DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team fell behind early and was unable to recover against Bowling Green on Wednesday night, Feb. 11, as the Huskies fell to the Falcons, 68-52, at the NIU Convocation Center. The visitors built a 10-point lead in the opening six minutes and held the Huskies to their lowest scoring output of the season.

"I thought out guards didn't do a good enough job of ball facilitating, getting the ball from point A to point B. Point B being inside," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "We missed too many layups around the rim and in the first 10 minutes we had five turnovers. Against a team like that that leads the MAC in points off turnovers, top-15 in the country, you cannot turn the ball over."

Makhai Valentine (Munhall, Pa./Steel Valley) was the lone Huskie in double figures with 15 points, Gustav Winther (Roskilde, Denmark) and Taj Walters (Bronx, N.Y./Moravian Prep) each added eight points. 

An early 10-0 run for Bowling Green gave the Falcons a 10-2 lead and forced a quick NIU timeout. The Falcons led 12-2 when Valentine knocked in a triple from the corner and Hassan 'Tre' Washington (Providence, R.I./Prise Academy) finished at the rim to cut the visitors lead to just five, 12-7, with a little over 13 minutes to play in the opening half. 

Bowling Green (15-10, 6-6 MAC) responded with a 7-0 burst as the Falcon lead grew to 19-7 with 11:12 left in the first half. 

The visitors led by nine until a 13-2 Falcon run late in the half ballooned the Bowling Green advantage to 38-18. 

NIU (8-15, 3-8 MAC) finished the half with a free throw as Bowling Green took a 38-19 lead into halftime. Mayar Wol had 13 points off the bench to lead the Falcons, who shot 57.7 percent (15-of-26) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, while holding the Huskies to just 20.6 percent (7-of-34). Winther led NIU with six points in the opening stanza. 

The Huskies opened the second half on a 7-2 run as Dylan Ducommun (Geneva, Switzerland) opened the scoring before Walters added a triple and Gianni Cobb (Chicago, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor) added a bucket, cutting the Bowling Green lead to 40-26. 

Cobb finished with a game-high six assists to go along with six points and five rebounds. 

Bowling Green answered with an 11-0 run as the Falcons pushed their lead to 51-26 with 14:33 left to play. 

Valentine knocked in a triple to jumpstart a 9-2 burst for NIU. Walters and Winther each added a basket while Valentine scored two more as the Huskies cut the Bowling Green lead to 53-35 with 10:52 remaining. 

The Falcons scored the next seven however, ending any hopes of a Huskie comeback. 

Wol finished with 15 points to lead the way for Bowling Green. Javontae Campbell added 13 points and Justin Thomas chipped in 10. 

NIU will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 14, when the Huskies travel to Mount Pleasant, Mich., to take on Central Michigan. NIU will return home on Saturday, Feb. 21, when it hosts Ohio.