Northern Illinois Downs Idaho, 78-67
DEKALB, Ill. (AP) — Aaric Armstead and Darrell Bowie scored 16 points apiece and Northern Illinois beat Idaho 78-67 Thursday night, denying Vandals coach Don Verlin his 100th career win.
Travon Baker scored 14, Jordan Threloff scored 11, and the Huskies (2-0 Mid-American Conference) outshot the Vandals 51 percent to 42.9 percent.
It is the first 2-0 start for the Huskies since 2006-07.
Sekou Wiggs scored 18 for Idaho (2-1 Big Sky), Mike Scott 17, and Bira Seck grabbed 11 rebounds.
Idaho led 17-16 on a free throw by Ty Egbert, but Chuks Iroegbu's 3-pointer sparked a 10-2 NIU run and the Huskies led 39-27 at halftime.
Idaho drew to within five (41-36) after a 9-0 run in the second half, but Armstead hit three 3-pointers in building a 14-point NIU lead. The Vandals again closed to within five (61-56) at 8:43 on a jumper by Scott, but NIU rallied again with 10 free throws down the stretch.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.