KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team trailed by 15 early in the second half but rallied to take a late lead, only to see that lead slip as the Huskies fell to Western Michigan, 72-70, on Tuesday night (Jan. 21) at University Arena. 

James Dent Jr. (Springfield, Ill./Springfield Southeast) led four Huskie in double figures with 18 points. Quentin Jones (Chicago, Ill./Marian Catholic) netted all 17 of his point in the second half, while also dishing out a team-high seven assists. Ethan Butler (Toronto, Ontario/Southwest Academy) scored 13 and Quaran McPherson (South Jamaica Queens, N.Y./Link Year Prep) had 11 points and a team-best nine rebounds. 

"We gave ourselves a chance to win," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "We were 15-of-16 from the free-throw line but our Achilles heel was free throw block outs. I thought our guys showed some toughness in the second half, going down as much as 15. They didn't get rattled; they stuck to the gameplan." 

Western Michigan (5-13, 2-4 MAC) held a 15-point lead, 46-31, but NIU battled back in large part due to an 11-0 run. Dent opened the spurt with a pair of free throws, Nasir Muhammad (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) added a basket, followed by a bucket from McPherson and five-straight points from Jones as the Western Michigan lead was just 49-47 with a little over 11 minutes remaining. 

Jones banked in a short jumper to pull the Huskies even at 51. Western Michigan scored the next six before a trifecta by Jones cut the Bronco lead in half, 57-54, with 6:49 left. 

Western Michigan's lead went back to five, but a three-point play by Jones, and a pair of free throws from McPherson, tied the game at 59. The Broncos and Huskies traded buckets and then Western Michigan hit a triple to go in front by three. Tsvet Sotirov (Rolling Meadows, Ill./Rolling Meadows) answered with a corner trifecta, tying the game at 64 with four minutes remaining. 

A layup from Butler following a Western Michigan free throw gave the Huskies a one-point lead, but the Broncos scored the next four to go back in front, 69-66, with 93 seconds left. 

Dent converted a runner in the lane with 18.5 seconds remaining to bring NIU within one, 69-68. 

Western Michigan made a pair of free throws to increase its lead to three with 17.1 seconds left before McPherson made a putback layup with six seconds to play, cutting the Bronco lead to 71-70. 

The Broncos then split a pair of free throws, missing the second which meant NIU, with no timeouts, had to sprint the length of the floor down by two, but a shot from just inside of half-court wouldn't fall as the hosts held on for the victory. 

Chansey Willis Jr. scored 18 points to lead Western Michigan. JaVaughn Hannah added 17 and Donovan Williams scored 15 points for the Broncos. 

In the first half, A pair of baskets by Dent, sandwiched around two free throws from McPherson, gave the Huskies an early 6-0 run as NIU led 11-7. 

Western Michigan scored the next five as the Broncos went in front by one before Dent knocked in a triple as the Huskies led, 14-12, just before the midway point of the half. 

After the two teams traded triples, Western Michigan used a 10-0 run to take a 25-17 advantage. 

The Western Michigan lead grew to 31-19 before an old-fashioned three-point play from Butler trimmed the Bronco advantage back to single-digits with 5:19 to play in the half. 

Western Michigan's lead ballooned to 14, the largest of the half, in the final minute before Butler closed the scoring with a pair of free throws as the Broncos took a 39-27 lead into halftime. Williams led all scorers with 13 points for Western Michigan while James Dent Jr. paced the Huskies with 11. 

The Broncos shot 48.3 percent (14-of-29) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes while holding the Huskies to just 34.8 percent (8-of-23). 

Jones made a pair of baskets and fed Dent for a corner triple early in the second half, but the Broncos matched the Huskies shot-for-shot as Western Michigan led 48-36 with 15:29 to play before the 11-0 Huskie run brought the visitors back into the contest. 

The Huskies shot 51.6 percent (16-of-31) in the second half while holding the Broncos to just 29 percent (9-of-31) from the floor in the second 20 minutes, but NIU was unable to overcome a 42-27 rebounding edge for the Broncos, which included a 17-8 advantage in second chance points. 

NIU will return home on Saturday, Jan. 25, when the Huskies host Ball State in the second game of a Huskie basketball doubleheader. NIU Athletics will also celebrate its 125th anniversary on Saturday and tickets are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets or by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at (815) 753-PACK (7225).