DEKALB, Ill. – A tough shooting night for the Miami University men's basketball team, along with Northern Illinois finding its scoring rhythm in the second half led to a 70-55 defeat on Saturday. The RedHawks are now 9-12 overall and 2-6 in the Mid-American Conference. The Huskies are 13-9 overall and 6-3 in the MAC.

Miami was unable to get its offense moving consistently as it finished 20-for-58 (34.5 percent) from the field. The team was 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) from behind the arc. After holding Northern Illinois to 10-for-26 (38.5 percent) shooting in the first half, the Huskies finished 15-for-28 (53.6 percent) in the second half, which proved to be the difference.

A slow start saw the RedHawks fall behind, 7-2, before a triple by senior forward Bam Bowman pulled them to within one. NIU pushed the advantage to 12-5, before triples from sophomore guard Mekhi Lairy and redshirt junior guard Milos Jovic made it 14-11 at the 11:12 mark.

After a layup from sophomore forward Elijah McNamara, a triple by freshman guard Dae Dae Grant gave Miami its first lead at 16-14 with 9:23 to go. The 'Hawks went cold as the Huskies went on an 11-4 run to increase its advantage back to five at 25-20. Grant continued a strong first half with a triple and a pair of free throws to cut the deficit down to three at the break, 28-25.

The second half started similarly as neither team was able to get on a sustained run. The Huskies were able to get in front by seven at 34-27, but a layup by Bowman, followed by six straight points from Jovic completed an 8-3 run that pulled Miami to with two at 37-35 with 15:20 to go in the game.

A 13-3 run over the next four minutes gave Northern Illinois the cushion it had been looking for. A dunk from junior forward Dalonte Brown ended the scoring drought, but the Huskies scored the next eight in a row to put the game essentially out of reach at 58-40. Junior guard Nike Sibande tried to get the RedHawks back into it by scoring the next 13 points for the team, but Miami was unable to cut the deficit any closer than 13 points.

Sibande led the 'Hawks with 13 points, while Jovic and Grant had 11 each. Bowman finished with a team-high 10 rebounds, while redshirt sophomore guard Isaiah Coleman-Lands recorded five assists.

Miami returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts Western Michigan at 7 p.m. The game will air on ESPN+. Students this will be the rescheduled GPA promotion. If you show the marketing table that you had a 3.0 grade point average or better you will earn a prize and be entered into a drawing to win the grand prize.