DEKALB, Ill. — Junior guard Jarvis Nichols scored a game-high 18 points to lead Northern Illinois to a 63-52 nonconference victory over Air Force on Tuesday.
Freshman guard Jeremy Landers scored 14 points for new coach Ricardo Patton’s Huskies (2-6).
Jeremy Landers’ 3-pointer with 3:30 left to play put Northern Illinois ahead 49-46. The Huskies then hit 10-of-14 free throws in the final 3:12 to send the visiting Falcons (5-4) to their fourth straight loss.
Senior guard Tim Anderson paced the Falcons with 15 points while senior center Keith Maren added 10 points.
Air Force hit 4-of-6 3-pointers while Northern Illinois went 3-of-4 from behind the arc before Smith hit the game’s first two-point field goal with 9:23 left in the half.
Northern Illinois shot 48.7 percent from the field and hit 18-of-27 free throws. Air Force hit just 17-of-46 field-goal attempts and was 14-of-19 from the line.
AIR FORCE (5-4)
Holland 1-4 0-0 3, Maren 4-6 1-3 10, Anderson 4-13 7-7 15, Washington 3-7 2-4 9, Johnson 2-8 4-5 8, Henke 3-7 0-0 7, Kenzik 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-46 14-19 52.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS (2-6)
Grafel 2-3 0-0 4, Logan 3-6 0-0 8, Patton 1-5 0-0 3, Landers 4-7 4-10 14, Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Nichols 3-7 10-10 18, Smith 5-8 0-1 10, Kelley 1-2 0-0 2, Rand 0-0 0-0 0, Hart 0-0 4-6 4. Totals 19-39 18-27 63.
Halftime — NIU 31-26. 3-point goals — AFA 4-16 (Maren 1-1, Holland 1-3, Washington 1-4, Henke 1-4, Anderson 0-4), NIU 7-14 (Logan 2-3, Nichols 2-3, Landers 2-3, Patton 1-4, Anderson 0-1). Fouled out — Henke. Rebounds — AFA 30 (Henke 7), NIU 27 (Grafel, Logan 5). Assists — AFA 8 (Anderson, Henke, Johnson 2), NIU 13 (Nichols 4). Total fouls — AFA 21, NIU 17. A — 1,169.
