Junior guard Eugene German chipped in 17 points and 5 assists in his first game of the 2018-19 season during the men’s basketball team’s narrow 73-66 victory over the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks Saturday at the Convocation Center.

The 2017-18 Mid-American Conference leading scorer missed the Huskies’ (2-1) first two games of the season due to an indefinite suspension from competition stemming from an Oct. 24 retail theft charge.

Senior guard Dante Thorpe and sophomore guard Zaire Mateen were suspended along with German for the retail theft charges and made their return to the court Nov. 9 against Northern Kentucky.

Nov. 6, German was sentenced to 12 months of supervision, 30 hours of community service and ordered to pay an $801 fine after filing a guilty plea on a battery charge from a May 5 egg-throwing incident, according to the DeKalb County Circuit Clerk report.

Head Coach Mark Montgomery said it was time for German to return to the court.

“It feels great to be out there,” German said. “I feel like we’re at our full powers now. I’m not going to keep harping on the past. I’m just blessed to be able to keep continuing to play basketball, the game I love.”

Despite German’s return to the court, NIU struggled to put away Illinois Tech.

The Huskies took a 65-52 lead with 2:54 left in the game after a Thorpe layup. Illinois Tech senior guard Anthony Mosley tallied seven points to spearhead a Scarlet Heart 12-4 run, including a 3-pointer to bring NIU’s advantage down to 69-64 with 31 seconds left in the contest.

Thorpe and senior forward Levi Bradley, who nearly put up a double-double with team-highs of 18 points and nine rebounds, each made two free throws to help give the Huskies their eventual win.

“At that point, it’s not Illinois Tech, it’s just another team,” Bradley said. “I think our sense of urgency stepped up when we were only by seven or whatever it was in that last 1:15 and I think that’s why we pushed the way we did at the end.”

NIU got off to a slow start to the game; it played Illinois Tech to an 8-8 tie after tallying five turnovers and shooting 3-of-9 from the field in the first eight minutes and 29 seconds of the contest.

Bradley and German each scored six points during the Huskies ensuing 18-6 run to give NIU a 26-14 advantage. The Scarlet Hawks brought their deficit down to five with four minutes remaining in the half.

Freshman guard Austin Richie hit a jump shot, Bradley scored six points and German nailed a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in the half to give the Huskies a 37-23 lead heading into halftime.

NIU’s lead grew to 16 for its largest advantage of the contest after a Mateen lay-up with 16:17 left in the game.

The Huskies’ lead stayed within the 11-14 point range for nearly six minutes until Illinois Tech put up eight unanswered points to bring its deficit down to 49-44 with 9:01 left in the contest.

German, Thorpe and junior forward Noah McCarty each put up four points during the next 3:13 of gameplay to initiate a 12-2 NIU run to give the Huskies a 15 point lead.

NIU maintained its advantage for the remainder of the game Illinois Tech did not have a lead during the contest. Thorpe finished the game with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, made all three of his free-throw attempts and was a game-high +16.

The Huskies shot 3-of-16 from beyond the arc and missed all of their 3-point attempts in the second half of the contest. German made all three of NIU’s 3-pointers.

“At times we settled for jump shots, couldn’t make a 3-pointer, then there was a time we missed an inside shot and there a turnover here or there, maybe credit their defense,” Montgomery said. “Another way we couldn’t put them away is we didn’t get three consecutive stops when it was time we were up 12-14. The only way to put them away is to get stop and then score on the other end. We’re still working to get better than that.”

Senior forward Jaylen Key recorded four fouls in six minutes of play. He fouled out during the Huskies’ match-up versus Northern Kentucky Nov. 9 and has tallied seven fouls in his last 22 minutes of game time.

“I’m going to go back and look at it, but to me, they’re legit fouls,” Montgomery said. “He had two hands on his back on the first [foul], the second one I didn’t remember what happened, but maybe you have to be down and locked in right away and use your chest and forearm more. We’re going to re-evaluate if we’re going to start Jaylen Key because of this foul trouble issue.”

NIU will return to action for its first road trip of the season when it plays the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles at the Men Against Breast Cancer Oakland Hoops Challenge 11 a.m. Nov. 23 in Rochester, Michigan.

The Huskies will face-off against the James Madison University Dukes 11 a.m Nov. 24 and the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies 1:30 p.m. Nov. 25 during the tournament.

“Another hard fought victory, just couldn’t put Illinois Tech away,” Montgomery said. “They just wouldn’t disappear, played extremely hard and made shots. We did some good things, but at times it felt like we just couldn’t find a rhythm. We made free-throws and took care of the basketball. We did enough to finish them off.”