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MUNCIE, IND. - After showcasing their offensive skills in a 99-93 victory over Chicago State three days earlier, the Northern Illinois Huskies (5-8, 1-0) featured some solid defensive play Saturday while besting Ball State (6-7. 0-1) 62-48 at Worthern Arena.
Although Northern Illinois shot a modest 38.8 percent (19/49) from the field itself, NIU was able to limit the hosts to 27.1 percent (16/59) overall and 16.7 percent (2/12) from behind the arc. Malik Perry was the only Cardinals player to register double figures. He scored 14 points.
Xavier Silas paced the Huskies with 25 points, including a school record 15 points on 15 attempts from the foul line.
Center Michael Fakuade was also in double figures with 10 points,although he logged just 11 minutes of court time before fouling out. Darion (Jake) Anderson collected 10 rebounds, and Mike DiNunno dished out three assists while scoring eight points.
"DiNunno had an excellent floor game," NIU Head Coach Ricardo Patton said. "When you talk about having five assists and no turnovers in 32 minutes, I thought he was the point guard that he needed to be for us to win today."
Patton continued, "Jake Anderson's 10 rebounds were also huge. He went in and really grabbed some tough rebounds. Our bigs had their hands full with their bigs, so it was important for Jake and our guards to help us on the boards."
With shots not falling, there were plenty of rebounds for the taking, and Northern Illinois took 40 to Ball State's 34.
The Huskies pulled out front in the first half and led 22-18 after a Silas trey with 2:10 remaining, but the hosts went on an 8-2 run to forge a 26-22 BSU lead at intermission.
It was NIU's turn for a run early in the second half as the Huskies went out front 33-26. A pair of Perry buckets pulled the Cardinals within three.
"Perry is a load underneath," Patton said. "He's what I refer to as a 'man-sized headache.'"
Northern Illinois treated the headache and Cardinals with 10 unanswered points as it opened up a double-digit lead.
Ball State didn't help itself, making just 6-of-31 shots (19.4 percent) from the field over the final 20 minutes.
Northern Illinois went to the free throw line 15 times in the final 5:35 and converted 13 of the charity tosses to keep the Cardinals at a distance. Silas was a perfect 10-for-10 during the stretch.
"I thought our guys were really good defensively to start out the second half," Patton said. ""We got four or five straight stops where they didn't score. We also loosened up offensively in the second half and started to make some basketball plays."
With the victory, NIU recorded back-to-back road wins for the first time since March of 2006. The Huskies return home for a pair of MAC games during the coming week. They host divisional foe Western Michigan Wednesday (7 p.m.) and will meet Eastern Michigan Saturday (4 p.m.).
Ball State travels to Central Michigan Wednesday (7 p.m.) before returning home for a Sunday tilt with Toledo (1 p.m.). |
