Saturday, February 25
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
2 p.m.
Central Michigan University
10-19,5-11MAC
80
vs
84
Northern Illinois
12-17,8-8MAC
1
2
F
NIU
47
37
84
Central Mich.
29
51
80
Photo by: Sydney Kline '26 - @sydney.kline.photography
Men's Basketball Rallies But Falls to Northern Illinois 84-80
2/25/2023 6:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Central Michigan’s Reggie Bass scores a game-high 40 points, sets school-record for most free throws made in a game (21); Chippewas rally, outscore Huskies 51-37 in the second half, but can’t overcome large halftime deficit.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.—Freshman guard Reggie Bass scored a game and career-high 40 points and set school and arena records for free throws made with 21, but it was not enough as the Chippewas rallied but could not overcome an 18-point halftime deficit as Northern Illinois held on for an 84-80 men's basketball victory Saturday at McGuirk Arena.
With the loss, Central Michigan (10-19 overall) drops to 5-11 in the league and is now tied for eighth place in the Mid-American Conference standings with both Miami (Ohio) and Eastern Michigan, who both won this afternoon. The top eight teams advance to Cleveland to compete in the MAC Tournament, scheduled for March 9-11 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
It was a tale of two halves for Central Michigan as Northern Illinois built a 47-29 halftime lead after converting 69.6 percent (16-23) from the floor and 60 percent (6-10) from 3-point range. In the second half, Central Michigan rallied as it outscored NIU 51-37. The Chippewas cut the deficit down to as few as four points (60-56 with 9:30 to play) but couldn't get any closer.
"We could have played harder in the first half and better on the defensive end," Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee said. "We won the second half 51-37. If we played as hard early-on as we played in the second half, we would have won the game. We're shorthanded with all the guys who are injured. We had Reggie playing well through the injury, but it was just not enough."
"If we can play that hard for 40 minutes, we give ourselves a chance. We battled back in the second half but it was too little, too late."
Bass returned to the lineup after missing Tuesday's game at Buffalo. He scored a game and career-high 40 points, including 33 in the second half. His 21 free throws made surpassed the previous school record of 19 by David Webber against Miami (Ohio) on Jan. 5, 2002. Bass' 40 points rank as the 20th most points scored by a Chippewas player and the most points scored by a CMU player this year. His 21 free throws made also established a new McGuirk arena record. Bass, who also drew 14 fouls, scored 40 of CMU's 80 points on the day. Senior Brian Taylor added 14 points, his eighth straight double figure scoring game, and sophomore Markus Harding added 12 points and nine rebounds.
"The points and records are great, but we didn't get the win and that was our goal today," Bass said. "We played well in the second half, both on defense and on offense, but we can't have sluggish first halves like we had today."
Taking advantage of hot shooting, Northern Illinois built a commanding 18-point halftime lead (47-29). The Huskies used an 8-0 run to go up 22-12 midway through the first half. A 3-pointer and layup from Kaleb Thornton gave NIU a 19-12 lead and Darweshi Hunter hit a 3-pointer for the 10-point lead with 10:47 to play in the first half. Later, an 11-0 NIU run gave the Huskies a 37-20 lead at the 3:04 mark. Harvin Ibarguen scored on an alley-oop dunk, Thornton hit two free throws, Hunter hit a jumper and followed with a 3-point play off a layup to push the lead to a commanding 17 points.
But Central Michigan turned up the defensive intensity in the second half. Trailing 56-38 with 16:01 to play, Central Michigan got back into the game with an 11-0 run midway through the second half when Bass hit two free throws, Harding converted a layup, and Bass hit two more free throws. Then Bass followed with a 3-pointer and suddenly CMU was within nine points at 56-47 with 11:49 to play. Two more Bass free throws cut the deficit down to seven points before NIU responded with a free throw.
Minutes later, Bass cut NIU's lead down to four points at 60-56 with 9:30 to play on a driving layup. But that was as close as the Chippewas came as NIU responded with an 8-0 run fueled by Ibarguen's 3-point play, a Hunter free throw, a Nutter driving layup and two more Nutter free throws. That pushed NIU's lead back up to 12 points (68-56) with 6:16 to play.
Central Michigan could get no closer than five points the rest of the way.
Five Huskies scored in double figures including Nutter and Thornton with 21 points apiece. Hunter finished with 14 points and Ibarguen and Anthony Crump added 11 points each.
Central Michigan hit 81.1 percent (30-37) of its free throw attempts, while NIU converted 25 of 39. A total of 55 personal fouls were called, including four technical fouls.
Two regular season games remain for Central Michigan as the Chippewas host Toledo for Senior Day on Tuesday, Feb. 28 (7 p.m.) and closes out the regular season at Western Michigan on Friday, March 3 (7 p.m.).
"When you look at our schedule and other team's schedules around us, we probably need one more win to advance to the conference tournament," Barbee said. "We've got two more opportunities coming up."
With the loss, Central Michigan (10-19 overall) drops to 5-11 in the league and is now tied for eighth place in the Mid-American Conference standings with both Miami (Ohio) and Eastern Michigan, who both won this afternoon. The top eight teams advance to Cleveland to compete in the MAC Tournament, scheduled for March 9-11 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
It was a tale of two halves for Central Michigan as Northern Illinois built a 47-29 halftime lead after converting 69.6 percent (16-23) from the floor and 60 percent (6-10) from 3-point range. In the second half, Central Michigan rallied as it outscored NIU 51-37. The Chippewas cut the deficit down to as few as four points (60-56 with 9:30 to play) but couldn't get any closer.
"We could have played harder in the first half and better on the defensive end," Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee said. "We won the second half 51-37. If we played as hard early-on as we played in the second half, we would have won the game. We're shorthanded with all the guys who are injured. We had Reggie playing well through the injury, but it was just not enough."
"If we can play that hard for 40 minutes, we give ourselves a chance. We battled back in the second half but it was too little, too late."
Bass returned to the lineup after missing Tuesday's game at Buffalo. He scored a game and career-high 40 points, including 33 in the second half. His 21 free throws made surpassed the previous school record of 19 by David Webber against Miami (Ohio) on Jan. 5, 2002. Bass' 40 points rank as the 20th most points scored by a Chippewas player and the most points scored by a CMU player this year. His 21 free throws made also established a new McGuirk arena record. Bass, who also drew 14 fouls, scored 40 of CMU's 80 points on the day. Senior Brian Taylor added 14 points, his eighth straight double figure scoring game, and sophomore Markus Harding added 12 points and nine rebounds.
"The points and records are great, but we didn't get the win and that was our goal today," Bass said. "We played well in the second half, both on defense and on offense, but we can't have sluggish first halves like we had today."
Taking advantage of hot shooting, Northern Illinois built a commanding 18-point halftime lead (47-29). The Huskies used an 8-0 run to go up 22-12 midway through the first half. A 3-pointer and layup from Kaleb Thornton gave NIU a 19-12 lead and Darweshi Hunter hit a 3-pointer for the 10-point lead with 10:47 to play in the first half. Later, an 11-0 NIU run gave the Huskies a 37-20 lead at the 3:04 mark. Harvin Ibarguen scored on an alley-oop dunk, Thornton hit two free throws, Hunter hit a jumper and followed with a 3-point play off a layup to push the lead to a commanding 17 points.
But Central Michigan turned up the defensive intensity in the second half. Trailing 56-38 with 16:01 to play, Central Michigan got back into the game with an 11-0 run midway through the second half when Bass hit two free throws, Harding converted a layup, and Bass hit two more free throws. Then Bass followed with a 3-pointer and suddenly CMU was within nine points at 56-47 with 11:49 to play. Two more Bass free throws cut the deficit down to seven points before NIU responded with a free throw.
Minutes later, Bass cut NIU's lead down to four points at 60-56 with 9:30 to play on a driving layup. But that was as close as the Chippewas came as NIU responded with an 8-0 run fueled by Ibarguen's 3-point play, a Hunter free throw, a Nutter driving layup and two more Nutter free throws. That pushed NIU's lead back up to 12 points (68-56) with 6:16 to play.
Central Michigan could get no closer than five points the rest of the way.
Five Huskies scored in double figures including Nutter and Thornton with 21 points apiece. Hunter finished with 14 points and Ibarguen and Anthony Crump added 11 points each.
Central Michigan hit 81.1 percent (30-37) of its free throw attempts, while NIU converted 25 of 39. A total of 55 personal fouls were called, including four technical fouls.
Two regular season games remain for Central Michigan as the Chippewas host Toledo for Senior Day on Tuesday, Feb. 28 (7 p.m.) and closes out the regular season at Western Michigan on Friday, March 3 (7 p.m.).
"When you look at our schedule and other team's schedules around us, we probably need one more win to advance to the conference tournament," Barbee said. "We've got two more opportunities coming up."
—CMU—
Team Stats
NIU
CMU
FG%
.520
.367
3FG%
.538
.273
FT%
.641
.811
RB
33
41
TO
17
17
STL
3
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
40
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
21
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
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