Tuesday (Girls Basketball)
Class 3A Regionals
At Marengo: Burlington Central 49 Belvidere 35
Marengo 39 Rock Falls 38
At Sycamore: Sycamore 47 Sandwich 34
Kaneland 53 Elgin St. Edward 50
At Peoria: Peoria Notre Dame 63 Geneseo 57
At Metamora: Metamora 75 LaSalle-Peru 33
Washington 64 Streator 12
At Herscher: Herscher 45 Morris 35
Class 4A Regionals
At Rockford: Hononegah 67 Rockford Auburn 48
Belvidere North 61 Rockford East 54
At Hampshire: Rockford Boylan 43 Huntley 20
Harlem 55 Hampshire 38
Class 1A Sectional
At Freeport: Stockton 48 Eastland 46
Boys Basketball
NI Big 12 Conference: Sterling 66 Geneseo 64
Morris 39 Kaneland 37
Yorkville 53 Sycamore 29
DeKalb 56 Ottawa 48
Big Northern Conference: Winnebago 59 Byron 49
**Ty Waller (Bago): 20 pts
**Tyler Camling (Byron): 14 pts
Rockford Lutheran 67 Dixon 50
Rock Falls 61 Genoa-Kingston 45
South Beloit 52 Oregon 43
North Boone 63 Stillman Valley 60
Rockford Christian 63 Mendota 50
Amboy 68 Pecatonica 64
Polo 82 Durand 48
Bureau Valley 68 Kewanee 50
Lena-Winslow 59 Eastland 57
Fulton 51 Erie 45
West Carroll 43 Stockton 28
Milledgeville 56 Dakota 34
Orion 51 Morrison 30
Sterling Newman 58 Hall 38
Peru St. Bede 52 Prophetstown 50
Burlington Central 64 Marengo 60
Rockridge 51 Princeton 49
NIU Basketball
DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team and Central Michigan traded leads 17 times and were tied 15 times, but the Chippewas scored the final six points of the contest to claim an 80-72 road win on Tuesday night at the NIU Convocation Center
NIU shot 54.3 percent (25-of-46) from the field in the contest, including 57.1 percent (12-of-21) in the second half, but Central Michigan grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and went to the free-throw line 11 times more than the Huskies.
Sophomore Eugene German led four Huskies in double figures with 23 points. Junior Lacey James (Grand Rapids, Mich./Rider) had 13 points, junior Levi Bradley (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) chipped in 11 points and freshman Gairges Daow added 10 points.
“It came down to three things, (Central Michigan) offensive rebounding in the second half, (Central Michigan) shooting free throws, getting into the bonus early, and us turning the ball over,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “You have to defend without fouling, you have to take care of the basketball and we just couldn’t get separation in the second half.
“Credit Central (Michigan), they made plays down the stretch and we didn’t execute and didn’t get stops.”
NIU (11-15, 4-9 MAC) scored the first seven points to open the contest, but Central Michigan answered with an 11-4 run as the Chippewas took a 14-11 lead with 13:41 to play in the opening half.
With Central Michigan up by a pair, German knocked down back-to-back triples, his third and fourth of the early going, to give NIU a 22-18 lead with 11:39 to play before the break.
The contest was tied at 27 before a pair of free throws from freshman Owen Hamilton gave the lead back to the Huskies. Central Michigan then scored the next four as the Chippewas took a 31-29 lead with 4:50 left before the intermission.
NIU reclaimed the lead on an old-fashioned three-point play from James and the Huskies pushed their advantage to four but Central Michigan scored the final five points to close the half as the Chippewas took a 40-39 lead into halftime.
Neither team led by more than three in the second half until CMU took a 54-50 lead on a three-point play by Kevin McKay. Less than a minute later, NIU had pulled back even on a triple by Daow and took the lead when Daow added another basket with 12:12 left.
Four-straight from Central Michigan (16-10, 5-8 MAC) were followed by six from the Huskies and five more by the Chippewas as CMU took a 64-63 lead with six-and-a-half minutes to play.
With the score tied at 69, McKay converted another three-point play to put the Chippewas in front with 3:30 to go. The Central Michigan lead was down to two with just under two minutes left but McKay made another basket, followed by a Huskie turnover, and McKay scored again off an offensive rebound as the Chippewas did just enough to claim the road victory.
McKay finished with a game-high 33 points on 14-of-20 shooting, Shawn Roundtree added 16 points and Cecil Williams added 10 for the Chippewas.
The Huskies will conclude their current three-game home stretch on Saturday, Feb. 17, when they host Western Michigan at 3:30 p.m., in the second half of a doubleheader with the NIU women's basketball team tipping off at 1 p.m.
