Dec. 31, 2010

Box Score

DeKALB, Ill. -- Utah Valley dropped an 86-76 contest at Northern Illinois in a New Year's Eve matinee.

The Wolverines (6-8) couldn't overcome the Huskies' (4-7) efficiency in crunch-time, as NIU hit its final nine attempts from the field while also going 12-for-12 from the line in the closing minutes.

"Give Northern Illinois credit. They made more plays than we did, particularly down the stretch," said UVU Coach Dick Hunsaker. "They did a great job of closing out the game."

Holton Hunsaker led the Wolverines with 20 points while Ben Aird recorded his first career double-double with 16 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.

Hunsaker led UVU early, hitting four of his first five attempts to give the Wolverines a 17-11 lead. Utah Valley led throughout much of the first half, never trailing by more than two before scoring the last six points to lead 36-30 at the break.

Keith Thompson began the spurt with a pair of free throws, Aird got a put back and Hunsaker capped it with a steal and lay-up 24 seconds before the half expired.

In the second half, Utah Valley trailed by one, 53-52, when Shawn Deadwiler and Justin Baker nailed consecutive 3-pointers to put UVU up five with just over 10 minutes left.

The lead was still five, 61-56, when NIU ran off 10 quick points to flip the advantage into its favor. The Wolverines came right back though as Baker hit two free throws and Hunsaker nailed a three to tie it at 66 at the 5:56 mark.

From there though the Huskies were able to take control of the game. Xavier Silas got to the line on three straight possessions, hitting all six attempts to put NIU up six.

The Wolverines tried to keep up, getting within four on three different occasions, but NIU was able to close it out behind 69.2 percent shooting in the second half and 53.4 percent for the game. UVU hit 44 percent of its shots and was 25-for-31 (80.6 percent) from the free-throw line.

Silas, the nation's fourth-highest scorer, finished with 26 and scored his final 10 points from the line while Jeremy Landers added 17 for NIU, a team from the Mid-American Conference.

Deadwiler had 11 and Baker finished with nine with Utah Valley getting 25 points from its bench and outrebounding NIU 36-26.

The Wolverines will return home to host Haskell on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the UCCU Center, their final contest before the start of the Great West Conference season next Saturday back in Illinois at Chicago State.