Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Northern Ill
CMU Men Fall at Northern Illinois, 88-58
3/1/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 1, 2004
DeKALB, Ill. - Northern Illinois University avenged an earlier loss to Central Michigan University here Monday night in Mid-American Conference men's basketball by the score of 88-58.
The loss dropped CMU's record to 5-22 for the season, 1-15 in MAC action while the victorious Huskies up their mark to 10-18 overall and 5-12 in loop play.
The Chippewas collected their lone MAC win of the season at home over NIU by a 83-74 margin on Feb. 9.
NIU broke open a tight game with a big second half to claim their third straight triumph. After holding a 39-31 lead at the break, the Huskies caught fire and outscored CMU by a 49-27 margin in the final 20 minutes.
"Northern Illinois came out with a lot more emotion in the second half than we did," said head coach Jay Smith. "We didn't play as aggressively as we needed to. "It's frustrating for all of us. We finally take care of the basketball and we had good looks from the floor but couldn't get the shots to fall."
CMU hit just 20-of-60 from the field for 33.3 percent compared to NIU's 29-of-56 for 52 percent. The Huskies were even better from behind the three-point line, nailing 11-of-21 for 52 percent.
The Chippewas turned the ball over only five times in the first half but finished with seven more in the second half for a total of a dozen. NIU had 16 miscues.
Northern Illinois, thanks to a 25-14 edge in the second half, won the battle of the backboards by a 44-34 margin. It also had eight blocked shots to none for CMU.
Senior Gerrit Brigitha had a double-double for the Chippewas, netting 15 points and grabbing a career-high 13 rebounds. Frosh Sefton Barrett was the only other CMU cager in twin figures with 10.
Game-high honors went to NIU's Marcus Smallwood who scored 19 points and pulled down 14 caroms. He also blocked five shots.
The Chippewas return home for their final two regular season contests. Toledo comes to Rose Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m., and Ball State is slated to visit Rose on Saturday at 2 p.m.
