Northern Illinois holds off Eastern Michigan, wins 71-68

Jan 12, 2020, 12:23 am

DEKALB, Ill. -- Rod Henry-Hays hit four straight from the free throw line in the final 19 seconds to preserve Northern Illinois' 71-68 victory over Eastern Michigan on Saturday afternoon.

Yeikson Montero scored at the basket to get Eastern Michigan within one, 67-66 with :23 remaining, but after Henry-Hays hit two free throws Ty Groce missed a 3 to tie and Henry-Hays grabbed the rebound, drew the foul and hit both free throws with :09 left.

Eugene German registered 17 points and seven rebounds and Noah McCarty had 14 points and seven rebounds for Northern Illinois (9-7, 2-1 Mid-American Conference).

Noah Morgan had 16 points for the Eagles (10-6, 0-3). Yeikson Montero added 15 points. Boubacar Toure had 14 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks.

Groce, who averaged 12 points per game coming into the contest to lead Eastern Michigan, had only 3 points after going 1 of 5 from long range.

Northern Illinois plays Akron at home on Tuesday. Eastern Michigan matches up against Ball St. at home on Tuesday.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com