2017 MAC Men’s Basketball Recap: Northern Illinois Huskies at Buffalo Bulls

Nick Perkins hit a pair of free throws to put the Bulls up 14-4. At that point, it seemed like an almost insurmountable lead because we were 12 minutes into the game.

The Huskies woke after that, and scored 21 points in 8 minutes, to tie the score at the half, 25-25.

Northern Illinois’ offensive struggles returned at the start of the second half, and they found themselves down, 39-30, with 12:23 to go.

Back to back Aaric Armstead scores woke the Northern Illinois offense up, but by then it was too late. With 7 minutes and change, the Huskies still trailed 50-38.

An Armstead jumper closed the gap to 8, 50-42, but then a Nick Perkins dunk, assisted by C.J. Massinburg effectively put the game away for the Bulls with 5:46 left in the game.

A Nick Perkins layup ended the scoring, 65-45.

The Bulls killed the Huskies on the glass, 45-31. That can be expected when a team shoots as poorly as Northern Illinois did. They only hit 32% of their shots from the field, and were 8-18 from the charity stripe. They only made 1 three pointer in 13 attempts.

The Bulls weren’t fantastic from the floor, only hitting 44% of their shots, and 4 out of 20 threes. On a night where there was a lid on both baskets, it was good enough for the win.

Armstead led the Huskies with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Eugene German, the freshman from Gary, showed some promise, getting 10 off the bench.

C.J. Massinburg led the Bulls with 17 points, and Perkins added 11 and 12 rebounds off the bench.

The Huskies dropped to 14-10 on the year, and 6-5 in the MAC. They head to Kalamazoo to face Western Michigan in MAC West contest. In the West, first to worst is only separated by 2 games. Wild West, indeed!

Buffalo moves to 12-12, and 6-5 in the MAC. The Bulls head to Bowling Green next. The Bulls have won 3 in a row.