Both teams were getting up and down the floor early and the bigs for both teams were the beneficiaries. EMU’s freshman center James Thompson had 11 points and NIU’s sophomore center Marin Maric had eight points in the early going.
Senior wing Chuks Iroegbu finished the first half with a three-point play that gave the Huskies a 40-30 heading into the break. There were 14 lead changes in the first 20 minutes.
The Eagles were in the bonus early to start the second half and trimmed the Huskies lead to 47-45 with 11:17 left to play in the game.