Junior Eugene German scored a team-high 17 points and senior Lacey James added 15 for the Huskies in a game that featured 11 ties and nine lead changes.
Sophomore Gairges Daow finished with nine points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting.
“(James Madison’s) threes were big, they got them going in the first half,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “I liked how we battled back, but James Madison had not been shooting the ball like that prior to today. It was contagious, a couple of guys made them and then others made them. But the game was up for grabs (and) they executed a little better than us down the stretch. James Madison got something going to the basket and, unfortunately, we didn’t make a play at the end.”
A pair of free throws from Matt Lewis gave James Madison a 74-72 lead with 1:50 remaining. Following empty possessions by both teams, senior Levi Bradley knocked down a 15-foot jumper to pull the Huskies even with 48 ticks left on the clock. Bradley finished with nine points for the Huskies.
Lewis just beat the shot clock on the ensuing possession as the Dukes took a 76-74 lead with 17 seconds left. NIU then came up empty on a triple try that would have put the Huskies in front and James Madison iced the game with a pair of free throws to escape with the four-point victory.
NIU (3-2) shot 50.9 percent (28-of-55) from the field in the contest and 78.6 percent (11-of-14) from the free-throw line, but James Madison went 16-of-17 (94.1 percent) from the charity stripe and made 12 three-pointers.
Both teams got off to a good start offensively as they traded baskets in the early going. After a bucket by junior Noah McCarty pulled the Huskies even, 17-17, James Madison scored the next eight, including a pair of triples, to take a 25-17 lead.
NIU answered right back with the next five on a free throw from James and a pair of layups by German to bring the Huskies back within three with just over nine minutes to play before the intermission.
McCarty finished the contest with seven points.
James Madison (5-2) continued to hold the Huskies at bay as they connected on seven triples in the opening 20 minutes, but NIU closed the first half on a 6-0 spurt via a layup from German and a pair of put-backs from James as the Huskies and Dukes went to the break tied at 38.
Sophomore Rod Henry-Hayes opened the second half with his second triple of the contest as the Huskies and Dukes traded leads early in the second stanza. With James Madison in front, 50-49, a 7-0 NIU burst put the Huskies back in front by a half-dozen. James and McCarty each made a pair of free throws and senior Anastasios Demogerontas hit a trifecta to give the Huskies a 56-50 lead with 13:50 left.
The NIU lead was six again after an old-fashioned three-point play by Bradley with 4:53 left, but James Madison answered right back with a triple and then a layup off a steal to cut the Huskie lead back to one, 70-69. A pair of free throws from James gave the Huskies a three-point lead but Darius Banks evened it with a triple with 3:18 left, setting up the game’s final minutes.
Banks and Stuckey Mosley each scored 17 points for James Madison, Lewis added 16 and Dwight Wilson added 11 points and a game-high seven rebounds.
NIU will conclude the Men Against Breast Cancer Oakland Hoops Challenge on Sunday afternoon, November 25, when it faces the host Golden Grizzlies. Tipoff against Oakland is slated for 1:30 p.m., CT and will be available on ESPN+.
(Courtesy of NIU Athletics)