Unable to sweep the season series, NIU fell to Central Michigan on the road Sunday, 74-64.

The Chippewas (9-19, 4-10 MAC) were paced by sophomore guard Derek Jackson’s 19 points as they were able to control the lead from halftime to the finish.

“We came out strong, but following a timeout they really got it going,” said NIU coach Mark Montgomery in a press release. “They sped us up, picked up full court, and we just couldn’t get into an offensive rhythm. Credit Central Michigan, the difference, in particular in the first half, was they had some offensive rebounds. We had a dry spell and then we just couldn’t get close enough to put them under pressure.”

Despite a productive performance from freshman swingman Abdel Nader, who led all scorers with 24 points on eight of 13 shooting, the Huskies (3-24, 2-12 MAC) had to play catch-up for much of game.

“We got out-rebounded in the first half, by seven or eight boards,” Nader said. “They had a lot of second chance opportunities and kept keeping it alive, and that’s what killed us.”

With NIU leading 14-13 seven minutes into the first half, the Chippewas went on a 9-0 run to go up 22-14 at the nine minute mark. From there, Central Michigan increased its lead to 33-17 with five minutes remaining.

NIU came back from the double-digit deficit, going on a 13-6 run and closed the half with a buzzer beating shot made by Antone Christian, cutting the CMU lead to 39-30 at halftime.

In the second half, both teams traded baskets. The Chippewas maintained a 10-point lead until a short 6-1 burst pushed CMU’s lead to 52-37 with 13 minutes remaining.

Building on its performances in its last two road games, NIU stayed in the contest versus CMU, coming back from 12 points down to close the lead to single digits, 61-54. The Huskies comeback was sparked by back-to-back treys by Nader and Aksel Bolin.

“We have definitely been playing a lot better on the road,” Nader said. “We really stepped up our play in the second half. We shared the ball, got good shots and trusted each other.”

Shortly after that, Jackson hit a three which put the CMU back up by 11 points and the Huskies were forced to start fouling. Central Michigan responded by making its free throws and held on for the win.