ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team rallied from down as much as 12 in the second half to have a chance to win at the buzzer, but a three-point attempt came up empty as the Huskies fell to Grambling, 89-87, on Monday morning (Nov. 2) at the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center as part of the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon.
Five Huskies scored in double figures, led by a career-high 15 points from
Trevor Polite (Mequon, Wis./Homestead).
Nino Carter-Smith (Detroit, Mich./Warren De La Salle) added 13 points,
David Douglas Jr. (Park Forest, Ill./Yorkville Christian) chipped in 12 while
Brayden Gross (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) and
Max Weisbrod (DeForest, Wis./DeForest) each added 11 points.
Grambling shot 72.7 percent (16-of-22) in the second half and Isaiah Miranda led the way with 29 points for the Tigers.
"Really disappointed. You have a vision of how you want these things to go and when it is a heartbreaking defeat, you feel like you failed in every way and everything is wrong," said NIU head coach Matt Majkrzak. "That part is always hard, mentally, to adapt to. Especially because we have a lot of guys who haven't experience loss in game, or important games even more so."
NIU trailed by five, 87-82, with 41 seconds to play until an old-fashioned three-point play from
Bennett Basich (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) brought the Huskies back within a pair, 87-85. Thanks in part to Grambling missing two-of-three free throws, including the front end of a one-and-one, the Huskies were within one, 88-87, with six seconds to play following a pair of free throws from Carter-Smith.
Grambling then split two more free throws to push its lead to two, giving NIU one last chance with three seconds left. Inbounding in the front court out of a timeout, the Huskies got a decent look at a triple but the shot came up empty as the Tigers escaped with the opening day victory.
Weisbrod had eight assists to go along with his 11 points, Polite recorded a team-high five rebounds.
Grambling jumped out to the lead in the early going as the Tigers led, 12-9, at the first media timeout.
The Tigers lead grew to a half-dozen, 18-12, before back-to-back triples from Carter-Smith pulled NIU back even at 18 with 12:30 to play in the opening stanza. Weisbrod had five assists on NIU's first six made field goals.
Grambling's lead grew back to eight, 26-18, before triples from Polite and
Keller Hanson (Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) brought NIU back within a pair, 26-24, with 8:37
NIU was within one, 28-27, after a triple from
Jack Daugherty (Brookfield, Wis./Brookfield Central), but Grambling answered with the next nine as the Tigers took a 37-27 lead with just under four minutes to play before halftime.
Gross and Hanson made back-to-back baskets as the Huskies cut the Grambling lead back to a half-dozen, 37-31, with a little less than three minutes to play in the half.
Grambling took a seven-point lead, 43-36, into the intermission. Miranda led all scorers with 20 points, going 7-of-8 from the field, for the Tigers. Polite had eight to pace NIU. Grambling shot 57.1 percent (16-of-28) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes while NIU was 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) from three.
With Grambling in front by nine early in the second half,
Colin Hardrick (Milwaukee, Wis.) knocked in a triple and Gross converted an old-fashioned three-point play as NIU trimmed the deficit to just three, 48-45, with 17:19 to go.
The Grambling lead was four, 54-50, before the Tigers scored six-straight to take a 60-50 lead with a little under 13 minutes left, forcing a Huskie timeout.
Trailing by a dozen, NIU used a 7-0 burst to pull within five, 65-60. Weisbrod started the run with a bucket, followed by a layup from Polite and a triple from the wing from Basich with 8:29 remaining.
A triple from Carter-Smith brought NIU within a pair, 72-70, with 5:24 left. The teams then traded baskets until a triple from Weisbrod cut the Tiger lead to just one, 78-77, with a little over three minutes on the clock. Once again, Grambling had an answer as they scored seven of the next nine to lead by a half-dozen, 85-79.
Douglas canned a three to cut the lead in half with 91 seconds to go before Grambling once again had an answer to take a five-point lead inside the final minute.
Dwayne Pierce scored 19 points with eight assists for the Tigers, Isaiah Howard added 13 points, Mekhi Fitts chipped in 12 and Antoine Shannon had 11 points.
"I think the experience will be worth it," Majkrzak said of playing in the Opening Day Marathon. "I would do it again because I think it was the right thing to do for our program, I think it was the right thing to do for this team. But I unfortunately know that I won't remember anything other than the loss."
The Huskies will return to action on Thursday, Nov. 5, when they travel to Tulsa, Okla., to face the Golden Hurricane. Tipoff at Tulsa is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be available on ESPN+ and 94.9 WDKB.
