DEKALB, Ill. – Xavier Amos (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) scored 19 points and Will Lovings-Watts (Jeffersonville, Ind./Putnam Science) added 18 as the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team topped Eastern Michigan, 76-66, on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 3) at the NIU Convocation Center. 

Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J./Clarendon College) chipped in 11 points with a game-high five assists as the Huskies used a 15-4 start to the second half to overcome a four-point halftime deficit and defeat the Eagles. 

"It was a competitive game from the start," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "I thought our guys had focus coming out to start the second half, which has been our Achilles heel all season. To come out and play the way we played, undermanned, we lost Harvin (Ibarguen) at shootaround today, I thought the guys stepped up. Will Lovings-Watts made some huge plays, Xavier (Amos) was Xavier-like, playing 32 minutes, 6-for-10, six rebounds, three blocks, just huge.

"Will Lovings-Watts really impacted this game with five steals, he made some great plays, he made a timely three, so I'm really happy for him."

NIU (7-14, 1-8 MAC) scored the opening six points of the contest as Yanic Konan Niederhauser (Fraschels, Switzerland/Ursping) finished a pair at the rim and Amos added a basket. 

Konan Niederhauser had nine points in the contest along with a pair of blocks. 

The Huskie lead was 8-3 before Eastern Michigan used an 11-2 spurt to take a 14-10 lead with 12:49 to play in the opening half. NIU answered with seven of the next nine, including four from Lovings-Watts, as the lead swung back to the hosts, 17-16, with nine minutes left before the intermission. 

Eastern Michigan (9-13, 2-8 MAC) regained the lead as a five-point burst gave the Eagles a 23-19 advantage with 6:07 remaining in the half. 

The Eagles pushed their lead to as much as six, 30-24, but NIU went 6-of-6 at the free-throw line in the final three-plus minutes of the first half to help trim the EMU advantage to 32-28 at the break. 

Lovings-Watts paced the Huskies with eight points in the opening 20 minutes, Yusuf Jiahd had eight to lead Eastern Michigan, in a first half that featured nine lead changes. 

Eastern Michigan scored first to start the second half before NIU used a 12-2 run to take a four-point lead. Amos and David Coit (Columbus, N.J./Atlantic Cape CC) each knocked down triples to start the run and Konan Niederhauser finished the burst with a short jump hook, giving the Huskies a 40-36 lead and forcing an Eagles timeout. 

Coit had nine points and four assists in the contest. 

Following the timeout, Amos knocked in a deep triple to extend the run to 15-4 to start the second half.  

In front by five, NIU used a five-point burst to double its lead. Nutter made a pair of free throws, Ethan Butler (Toronto, Ontario/Oregon) finished at the rim and Konan Niederhauser made a free throw to give the Huskies a 50-40 lead midway through the second half.

The NIU lead continued to hover around 10 points entering the final four minutes of the contest when a pair of free throws from Nutter and a bucket by Lovings-Watts put the home team in front by a dozen, 67-55, its largest lead of the game, with 3:16 to go. 

Eastern Michigan answered with the next eight, cutting the Huskie advantage to 67-63 with 1:53 left, but that is as close as the Eagles would get. Coit made a pair of free throws to balloon the advantage back to a half-dozen and, after EMU scored again to make it four, Amos drove to the bucket for a basket to make it a six-point Huskie lead once again, 71-65, with less than a minute to play. 

NIU finished the contest 30-of-35 (85.7 percent) from the free-throw line. Eastern Michigan went 13-of-17 (76.5 percent).

Orlando Lovejoy led the Eagles with 19 points, Tyson Acuff added 14, Jalin Billingsley scored 12 points and Jihad finished with 10 points. 

NIU returns to the road for the next two games, beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 6, at Miami. The Huskies will then travel to Mobile, Ala., to face South Alabama on Saturday, Feb. 10, in the MAC/Sun Belt Challenge.