An 11-0 run late in the second half helped lead Ball State to a 70-63 victory over the Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team on Tuesday night (Feb. 20) at the NIU Convocation Center. David Coit (Columbus, N.J./Atlantic Cape CC) scored a game-high 28 points for the Huskies while Yanic Konan Niederhauser (Fraschels, Switzerland/Ursping) added 10 points.

“I thought the guys competed for 40 minutes,” said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. “We ran out of gas down the stretch. When you have limited bodies, especially at the guard position, not having (Zarique) Nutter and losing Xavier (Amos) is a huge factor. We have able bodies to compete, I just thought we ran out of gas in the second half.

Both teams shot under 40 percent from the field in the contest as Ball State shot 37.5 percent (21-of-56) while NIU shot 33.9 percent (21-of-62) but the Cardinals were 41.2 percent (7-of-17) from three-point range and 77.8 percent (21-of-27) from the free-throw line while the Huskies were just 25 percent (6-of-24) from three and 62.5 percent (15-of-24) from the line.

Ethan Butler (Toronto, Ontario/Oregon) and Will Lovings-Watts (Jeffersonville, Ind./Putnam Science) each grabbed 10 rebounds, Butler added seven points while Lovings-Watts netted eight.

Tied at eight in the early going, NIU used a six-point burst to take a 14-8 lead. Lovings-Watts started the burst, Butler added a dunk and Coit finished the run with a basket. Ball State ended the run with a basket of its own before Coit converted an old-fashioned three-point play, giving the Huskies a 17-10 lead with 13:25 to play in the opening half.

Ball State (13-13, 5-8 MAC) responded with an 8-3 run of its own to pull within a pair, 20-18, just before the midway point of the opening half.

With NIU in front by four, 25-21, Ball State used a 6-0 spurt to take a 27-25 lead with 3:21 left before the intermission.

NIU (9-17, 3-10 MAC) closed the half scoring the last six as Coit and Konan Niederhauser both made a pair of free throws before DUROSINMI finished at the rim, giving the Huskies a 31-27 lead at halftime.

Coit led all scorers with 17 at the break, Jalin Anderson paced Ball State with 10 points.

Konan Niederhauser scored the first three points of the second half, all from the free-throw line, as the Huskies extended their lead to 34-27.

Ball State used a 9-2 run to reclaim the lead, 37-36, until back-to-back buckets from Coit swung the advantage back to NIU, 40-37, with 13 minutes to play in the contest.

A trio of trifectas from Butler, Lovings-Watts and Zion Russell (Upper Marlboro, Md./National Christian Academy) helped the Huskies extend their lead to 51-42 with 8:45 remaining. Ball State scored the next five as the Cardinals trimmed the NIU advantage back to just four. 51-47.

Following a pair of free throws from Harvin Ibarguen (Cali, Colombia/Seward County CC), Ball State went on an 11-0 run to take a 58-53 lead with 3:59 remaining.

With Ball State still in front by five, Coit knocked in a wing triple to bring the Huskies within a pair, 60-58, but the Cardinals scored the next four to push their lead to a half-dozen with 90 seconds to play before closing the game out at the free-throw line.

Anderson finished with 19 points to lead Ball State, Basheer Jihad added 17 points and 10 rebounds, Davion Bailey scored 15 points and Mickey Pearson Jr. chipped in 10 points.

NIU will be home again on Saturday, Feb. 24, against Ohio at 3:30 p.m. as part of the Cram the Convo Doubleheader. The NIU women’s basketball team will face Bowling Green at 1 p.m., tickets for Saturday’s doubleheader, including the 2024 Pack, which includes four tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas and four chips for $40, are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets.