DEKALB, Ill. – Four players scored in double figures, led by a career-high 20 points from Quaran McPherson (South Jamaica Queens, N.Y./Link Year Prep) as the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team topped Benedictine, 89-70, on Tuesday night (Dec. 3) at the NIU Convocation Center. 

Quentin Jones (Chicago, Ill./Marian Catholic) added 18 points, James Dent Jr. (Springfield, Ill./Springfield Southeast) scored 17 points and Kailon Nicholls (Toronto, Ontario/Hargrave Military Academy) had a career-best 14 points in the victory. 

"Good opportunity to get back on the winning track," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "We had a tough stretch coming into the game, having played some good opponents. This was good to get some guys who haven't played a lot the opportunity to play tonight. We had 16 assists, nine turnovers and 12 made threes, anytime you can see the ball go in the hole (is a positive). The distribution was there, the turnovers are where we want them to be. 

"A guy like Kailon (Nicholls) who has struggled a little bit over the last stretch had a good game, so hopefully that builds some momentum going into the Northern Iowa game."

NIU converted 19 Benedictine turnovers into 16 points while its nine miscues led to just four points for the Eagles. 

McPherson scored the first five to open the contest and, following as basket by Benedictine, Nicholls added the next five as the Huskies took a 10-2 lead in the opening five minutes of the contest. 

A pair of triples from Dent pushed the NIU advantage to 16-2 before the Eagles answered with the next five.

NIU (3-6) responded with the next six on a pair of buckets from McPherson and a basket by Dent, giving the Huskies a 22-7 lead just past the midway point of the opening half. 

McPherson finished with a game-high nine rebounds while Dent had a season-best five assists. 

The Huskies led 34-17 before back-to-back triples for Benedictine helped the Eagles trim the NIU advantage to 34-23 with a little under four minutes to play before the break. 

NIU took a 46-33 advantage into halftime. McPherson had a game-high 20 points at the break as NIU shot 57.6 percent (19-of-33) from the field, including 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from three, in the opening stanza. Pat Mayfield paced the Eagles with 13 points in the first half. 

The hosts scored the first 13 points to start the second half as NIU opened up a 59-33 advantage and cruised to the victory. 

The Huskies shot 50.7 percent (36-of-71) in the contest, including 38.7 percent (12-of-31) from three, while holding Benedictine to just 36.4 percent (24-of-66) from the floor. 

Mayfield finished with a game-high 25 points to pace the Eagles. Ryan Tucker and Nathan LaPlant each added nine points for Benedictine. 

NIU will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 7, as the Huskies travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa to face Northern Iowa. Game time against the Panthers is scheduled for 5 p.m.