Men’s basketball (6-0, 0-0 MAC) continued its hot start last weekend, defeating Indiana University Northwest and Idaho (4-3) to push its winning streak to six games to start the season.

Indiana University Northwest

The Redhawks played a physical game with NIU, bottling the Huskies whenever they attempted to attack the paint. NIU countered the Redhawks by drawing fouls and getting to the free throw line. The Huskies shot 78.9 percent (15-19) from the free throw line in the second half and 72.4 percent (21-29) for the game.

NIU’s defense picked up right where it left off in its last game. The team held Indiana Northwest to 27.1 percent (19-70) shooting for the game and scored 12 points off of 13 Redhawk turnovers. The Huskies also continued their work on the boards, grabbing 57 boards to the Redhawks’ 38. Senior guard Travon Baker led all players in the game with 10 rebounds.

Sophomore center Marin Maric scored 12 points on 4-7 shooting from the field. Freshman forward Jaylen Key was one rebound shy of a double-double, scoring 12 points on 5-7 shooting and grabbing nine boards. Junior guard Michael Orris added 10 points and five rebounds.

Head coach Mark Montgomery did not think it was the team’s best performance, but was happy with the 30 point win.

“I just thought that we played a little sluggish,” he said. “But we really got it going in the second half and we made a statement. I thought both teams played hard but I know we can play better.”

Junior guard Aaric Armstead scored 11 points in just over two minutes early in the second half. He said he wanted to come out aggressive in the game.

“Obviously it wasn’t just me, it was my teammates,” he said. “Michael Orris got me a lot of shots. Travon [Baker] got me a lot of shots, a lot of open shots. We talked in the locker room about coming out aggressive and not playing to the level of the competition, not settling, not being complacent with where we were.”

Armstead scored a career-high 22 points on 7-12 shooting to lead all scorers in the game. It was the second time he’s led the Huskies in scoring this year.

Idaho

Idaho jumped out to a fast start, holding a 12-6 lead in the first five minutes and causing an NIU timeout. The Huskies came out of the timeout with a 5-0 run with just over six and half minutes left in the half.

NIU took its first lead in the game on a free throw by freshman guard Marshawn Wilson with five minutes to go before halftime and led 34-32 to end the period.

The Huskies opened up the second half with back-to-back baskets before the Vandals called a timeout. Idaho struggled to score in the second period, shooting 33.3 percent (7-21) from the field

NIU went on a spurt of possessions in the second half where Wilson, freshman forward Levi Bradley and junior guard Michael Orris all hit three pointers with the shot clock expiring.

Maric recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds Armstead led the team in scoring for a second straight game, posting a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The bench contributed eight points.

NIU shot 35.2 percent (19-54) from the field for the game and held Idaho to 34.0 percent (18-53) for the contest. Neither team had any fast break points. Idaho scored 15 points off of 10 NIU turnovers, but the Huskies held the edge in points in the paint, outscoring Idaho 16-14 inside.

“Thank God for the two guys with double-doubles because we rode them,” Montgomery said, according to an NIU Athletics news release. “Marin Maric had to play with foul trouble and found a way to get a double-double, and Aaric Armstead was huge in the second half — not just with his scoring, but his rebounding, also. But it was a great team win. We got the lead, then we got punched in the face, and we hung on and found a way to win by getting defensive stops.”

Sophomore guard Victor Sanders led all Idaho scorers with 17 points, going 5-12 from the field and 4-8 on three pointers. Junior guard Perrion Callandret contributed 14 points for the Vandals and senior forward Nahshon George added 12 points.