NIU trailed by 15 early in the second half but shot 57.1 percent (16-of-28) from the field in the second 20 minutes, including 63.6 percent (7-of-11) from three-point range, to nearly grab the comeback victory.
Junior Darius Beane (Carbondale, Ill./Southern Illinois) scored 16 points, junior Anthony Crump (Inkster, Mich./Middle Tennessee State) netted a career-best 13, and tied a career-high with nine rebounds, while junior Trendon Hankerson (Novi, Mich./Novi) chipped in 12 points.
"In the second half, we kept grinding away," said NIU interim head coach Lamar Chapman. "We wanted to just walk them down, our goal was to get it under 10 at some point and we just kept pushing. The guys were playing hard and everybody was trying to feed off each other. We just stayed in there and had some mental toughness.
"We are all competitors, and there are no moral victories, but you have to call it like it is and I liked the effort, the intensity and not giving up."
Ohio (6-4, 2-2 MAC) led by a dozen with six minutes left before a triple from Kueth started an 8-3 burst for the Huskies. Crump added a basket and Hankerson knocked in a triple during the spurt as NIU pulled within seven, 70-63, with 4:19 to play.
Following a basket by Ohio, back-to-back triples from Kueth brought the Huskies within three, 72-69, with 2:32 remaining. A triple by Ohio pushed the lead back to a half-dozen heading into the final minute, but a bucket from Crump cut the Bobcat advantage to 75-71 with 42 ticks left on the clock.
After empty possessions by both teams, Ohio missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Hankerson raced the length of the floor for a layup, trimming the Ohio lead to just a pair with six seconds remaining.
The Bobcats split two more free throws to go up by three and NIU had a triple try at the buzzer bounce off the back iron as Ohio escaped with the 76-73 win.
Ohio led 17-7 six minutes into the contest before a 7-0 run brought the Huskies back within three. Kueth knocked in back-to-back triples to open the run before junior Adong Makuoi (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada/Daytona State College) made a free throw to cut the Bobcats lead to 17-14 with 12:26 left in the opening half.
With Ohio still in front by three, the Bobcats had a 9-2 burst as the lead ballooned to 28-18 for the home team with seven minutes play before the intermission.
NIU (1-8, 0-4 MAC) scored the next four as a bucket from junior Justin Lee (Lawrenceville, Ga./Collins Hill) and a pair of free throws by Hankerson trimmed the Ohio advantage back to a half-dozen, but the Bobcats scored the next six as Ohio led, 34-22, with 4:15 to play in the opening stanza.
Beane scored the final five points of the first half for NIU as Ohio took a 42-31 lead into halftime.
The Ohio advantage was 14 when NIU used a 6-0 burst with buckets from Kueth, Crump and Beane to bring the Huskies within eight, 56-48, just past the midway point of the second half.
Kueth also finished with a career-best seven rebounds while Beane and Hankerson each had three assists to lead the Huskies.
Ohio's lead swelled to a dozen, 67-55, with 6:12 left before the Bobcats held off the late Huskie rally.
Dwight Wilson scored a game-high 25 points to pace Ohio, Ben Roderick added 13, Ben Vander Plas and Lunden McDay each added 11 and Mark Sears scored 10 points for the Bobcats.
"I was so tired from the last two days with everything that had gone on and the travel and practice, but I was relaxed," said Chapman of his first game in charge. "We got here yesterday and I felt good about our shootaround last night and this morning, I had some butterflies, but I wasn't as nervous as I thought I was going to be. I was comfortable, our preparation had me at ease."
NIU will return to the State of Ohio on Saturday afternoon, January 9, when it travels to Oxford to meet Miami. Game time against the RedHawks is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT and will be available on ESPN+.
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January 06, 2021 at 09:06AM
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Late Rally Falls Just Short at Ohio - Northern Illinois University Athletics
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