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MOUNT PLEASANT, MI Clutch free throw shooting and hard-nosed defense propelled Central Michigan to an 81-75 victory over the Northern Illinois Huskies at Rose Center Saturday in a meeting between the top two teams in the Mid-American Conference's West Division.
Jordan Bitzer and Robbie Harman each finished with 17 points as CMU extended its home winning streak to six games. Chris Kellermann added 12 of the bench's 30 points, and Jalin Thomas made it back-to-back games in double-figures since his return to the starting lineup with 10 points.
Xavier Silas poured in a game-high 26 points and fellow junior Sean Kowal posted his second double-double of the season with 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for Northern Illinois.
CMU took a two-point lead into halftime, 33-31, but it led by as many as nine midway through the opening stanza following a 12-1 run. NIU used a 7-1 spurt in the final three minutes of the half to close the gap in what was na evenly-played opening 20 minutes.
The teams traded buckets early in the second half, with neither holding a lead bigger than two possessions until a three by Bitzer with 9:32 left. That gave the Chippewas a 59-52 edge, but the Huskies answered with a 9-0 run to take the lead, 60-59.
After NIU tied it up at 70 (the 14th tie of the contest), Central Michigan connected on four straight free throws, part of a 12-for-13 stretch in the game's final 3:06, to take a four-point lead. Central had converted just 12-of-23 from the stripe prior to the final 3:06.
A big block by William McClure - his second of the game and fifth in his last two contestson - on an attempted layup with 54 seconds left protected a three-point lead and helped seal the Chippewas victory.
The stats in the contest were nearly identical. CMU shot 44 percent from the floor compared to 42 percent by NIU. The difference came from long range, where the Chippewas hit 9-of-25 (36 percent) compared to 4-of-13 for the Huskies (31 percent).
Northern Illinois held a 36-35 rebounding edge but turned it over seven more times (18-11). The miscues led to 22 points by the Chippewas. CMU has now won back-to-back games when being outrebounded after entering the week at 0-6 in such situations.
"Coming into this game, I thought a major key for us was to rebound the basketball effectively," said NIU head coach Ricardo Patton. "In the second half, I thought we did a better job limiting their (CMU's) second chance opportunities and rebounding the basketball. But on the offensive end, we missed far too many layups. You have to finish those, and they came back to hurt us tonight.
He continued, "Even when we got CMU down, they continued to make plays, and you expect a good team to do that in a big game, especially on their home floor. We weren't able to extend our lead to a point that would prevent them from coming back. We've been able to do that in our other league games leading up to tonight."
CMU (9-8,4-1)returns to action Thursday with the start of divisional crossover play at Miami. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. Northern Illinois (8-9, 4-1) hosts Ohio Wednesday with an 8 p.m. tipoff.
NOTES: There were a combined 27 ties and lead changes in the game.... Central Michigan head coach Ernie Zeigler is now 8-0 against NIU.... The Chippewas are now 19-4 all-time under Zeigler when being whistled for fewer fouls than their opponent....Four players fouled out of the contest, including Silas and junior guard Drion "Jake" Anderson....Central Michigan (9-8, 4-1 MAC) is off to its best start in league play since the 2002-03 season, when the Chippewas won five straight after falling in the MAC opener.
Courtesy of Central Michigan and Northern Illinois Athletics
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