Men’s basketball (13-2, 2-0 MAC) defeated Eastern Michigan (9-6, 1-1 MAC) 80-63 for its second consecutive win in conference play on Saturday.

Both teams were getting up and down the floor early and the bigs for both teams were the beneficiaries. EMU’s freshman center James Thompson had 11 points and NIU’s sophomore center Marin Maric had eight points in the early going.

Senior wing Chuks Iroegbu finished the first half with a three-point play that gave the Huskies a 40-30 heading into the break. There were 14 lead changes in the first 20 minutes.

The Eagles were in the bonus early to start the second half and trimmed the Huskies lead to 47-45 with 11:17 left to play in the game.

NIU went on an 11-3 run that included two big three pointers from senior guard Travon Baker. Baker finished the game with seven triples and tied a career-high with 25 points.

The home team created separation with 5:29 left to play, leading 63-56 and would hold on for the victory.

The Huskies shot 44.6 percent (25-56) for the game and shot nearly perfect from the free throw line at 95.5 percent (21-22).

Maric recorded his sixth double-double of the year with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Iroegbu finished with 14 points in 18 minutes and junior guard Aaric Armstead contributed 12 points. The Huskies bench scored 25 points.

NIU scored 29 points off of 18 EMU turnovers and scored 27 points in the paint. The Huskies had 15 second chance points to the Eagles seven and 11 fast break points to the Eagles eight.

The Huskies dropped 16 assists and held EMU to 44.2 percent (19-43) shooting for the game. The visitors shot just 26.3 percent (5-19) from the three point line.

Thompson led the Eagles with 23 points and eight rebounds. Junior guard Raven Lee also scored in double figures for the visitors with 13 points.

“I thought it was a hard fought game by both teams,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery, according to an NIU Athletics news release. “We played an unbelievable first half to be up 10 (at halftime), we just couldn’t get going in the second half, you have to credit Eastern Michigan for that.

“With about 10 minutes to go in the game, we got out in transition and Travon Baker was unbelievable down the stretch … I have been here five years and we finally looked comfortable playing against their zone.”

The Huskies will play their first road conference game of the season as they face off against Toledo at 6 p.m. tomorrow in Ohio.