NIU comeback falls short at Kalamazoo: Tuesday’s Daily Chronicle sports roundup

Men’s basketball

Western Michigan 72, NIU 70: At Kalamazoo, Mich., the Huskies were down 15 in the second half, took the lead but fell to the Broncos.

James Dent Jr. led four Huskies (4-14, 0-6 Mid-American Conference) in double figures with 18 points. Quentin Jones netted all 17 of his points in the second half, while also dishing out a team-high seven assists. Ethan Butler scored 13 and Quaran McPherson had 11 points and a team-best nine rebounds.

“We gave ourselves a chance to win,” NIU head coach Rashon Burno said. “I thought our guys showed some toughness in the second half, going down as much as 15. They didn’t get rattled. they stuck to the gameplan.”

With the game tied at 64, a layup from Butler following a Western Michigan free throw gave the Huskies a one-point lead, but the Broncos scored the next four to go back in front, 69-66, with 93 seconds left.

Dent converted a runner in the lane with 18.5 seconds remaining to bring NIU within one, 69-68.

Western Michigan made a pair of free throws to increase its lead to three with 17.1 seconds left before McPherson made a putback layup with six seconds to play, cutting the Bronco lead to 71-70.

The Broncos then split a pair of free throws, missing the second which meant NIU, with no timeouts, had to sprint the length of the floor down by two, but a shot from just inside of half-court wouldn’t fall as the hosts held on for the victory.

Boys basketball

Indian Creek 61, Oregon 51: At Shabbona, Logan Schrader scored 17 in the loss.

Girls basketball

Hinckley-Big Rock 54, Newark 32: At Earlville, the Royals won their first-round game in the Little 10 tournament.

Anna Herrman had 18 points, six rebounds and five assists. Sami Carlino had 15 points and 10 rebounds.

The Royals play at 7 p.m. Thursday in Earlville, facing Somonauk-Leland in a semifinal. Indian Creek will face Serena in the other semifinal at 5:30 p.m.