COLUMBUS, Ohio - The NIU men's golf team closed the regular season on Sunday afternoon at the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate, falling one spot in the standings to close the tournament tied for 14th. 

The Huskies were a man down in the competition, leaving little room for error in NIU's lineup. Freshman Jordan Less answered the call, carding a 75 in the round to give him a 224 in the tournament and tie him for 14th in the tournament at +11. 

Less closed the book on a regular season on Sunday that saw him average 74.17 strokes per round in eight competitions this season. He entered the weekend with the best scoring average by a freshman in the Mid-American Conference.

"It was a challenging final round, playing with only four to score today. We started well but just were not efficient enough around the greens to compete," said Director of Golf Tom Porten. "On the other hand though, I'm really proud of the way Jordan played all weekend. He certainly made a strong case to be considered for MAC Freshman of the Year with a very strong top-15 finish. He had command of both his long and short games and was just a couple shots away from a top-10 finish."

Upon returning to DeKalb Sunday evening, the Huskies will have another quick turnaround, heading back to Columbus for the Mid-American Conference Championship at Virtues Golf Course.

"It's going to be a very quick turnaround before we head back to Columbus. We need to regroup and stay positive, focusing on our work in the short game," Porten added.

The MAC Championship will begin play with 36-holes on Friday, April 28 and continue on the 29th and 30th with 18 holes on each of the latter days.

TEAM SCORES: 1. Illinois - 298-282-284=864 (+12); 2. Kent State - 294-285-295=874 (+22); 3. Iowa - 300-293-306=899 (+47); t4. Ohio State - 297-302-304=903 (+51); t4. Penn State - 299-307-297=903 (+51); 6. Nebraska - 300-299-311=910 (+58); 7. Ball State - 304-302-308=914 (+62); 8. Rutgers - 306-313-297=916 (+64); 9. Miami (OH) - 308-305-306=919 (+67); 10. Akron - 315-301-310=926 (+74); t11. Michigan State - 310-307-313-930 (+78); t11. Bowling Green - 313-309-308=930 (+78); 13. Eastern Michigan - 306-310-315=931 (+79); t14. Indiana - 316-308-309=933 (+81); t14. NIU - 317-303-313=933 (+81) 

TOP-10 INDIVIDUALS: 1. Dylan Meyer (UI) - 74-71-66=211 (-2); 2. Bjarki Petursson (KSU) - 73-72-71=216 (+3); t3. Ian Holt (KSU) - 73-73-72=218 (+5); t3. Michael Feagles (UI) - 74-71-73=218 (+5); t3. Carson Schaake (Iowa) - 75-70-73=218 (+5); t6. Charlie Netzel (MSU) - 71-75-75=221 (+8); t6. Mike Colgate (UN) - 72-74-75=221 (+8); t6. Edoardo Lipparelli (UI) - 77-70-74=221 (+8); t9. Will Grimmer - (OSU) - 74-75-73=222 (+9); t9. Jace Guthmiller (UN) - 74-72-76=222 (+9); t9. Nick Hardy (UI) - 73-78-71=222 (+9); t9. Josh Whalen (KSU) - 75-71-76=222 (+9)

NIU INDIVIDUALS: t14. Jordan Less - 72-77-75=224 (+11); t45. Charlie Cameron - 78-76-79=233 (+20); t60. Paul Schlimm - 84-73-81=238 (+25); 74. Matt Cholod - 84-80-78=242 (+29); 81. Thomas DeMarco - 83-77-W=160 (+18)