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A 20-point second half effort by Abdel Nader wasn't enough for NIU to stem the tide against Ball State.
The Huskies lost 75-65 to the Cardinals, which is their second-straight loss against a MAC rival.
The Huskies (2-15, 1-4 MAC) played the MAC West division leading Cardinals (12-5, 4-1 MAC) very close in the early going.
The first half was a back-and-forth battle that saw several tie scores and NIU actually held the lead 26-21 with five minutes left to play in the half. Ball State went on a 16-2 run, which included a buzzer beating three pointer by point guard Randy Davis to put it up 37-28 at halftime.
"The run was big because the game was obviously back and forth," said Ball State coach Billy Taylor.
That momentum carried over into the second half for Ball State. The Cardinals, who shot 54 percent from the field in the game, went on a 15-7 run to increase their lead to 50-35.
NIU kept fighting, though, and pulled within five points after Nader scored a layup to make the score 50-45 with eight minutes left to play.
Nader would catch fire, scoring 13-straight points for the Huskies, including three triples and finished the game with a career-high 26 points.
"He's a big guard. He's tall, he's got a strong body, he can get the ball where he wants to, he can shoot threes, he can pull up. So he's really a difficult cover," Taylor said.
Nader said he felt like he was in the zone, and that he's become more comfortable playing at the collegiate level.
"For me, it's whatever I can do to help my team win," Nader said. "I think it took a couple games because it's a tough transition, but I'm definitely getting more comfortable on the floor."
Even after NIU guard Tony Nixon's put-back dunk cut the Cardinals lead to 65-58 with two minutes left to play, Ball State kept rolling, matching the Huskies shot for shot down the stretch.
Ball State forward Jarrod Jones led his team with 17 points and eight rebounds. He had a lot of help from his teammates, as forward Chris Bond scored 14 points, guard Jesse Berry had 12 and Davis chipped in with 11.
NIU played well defensively on Jones, a potential NBA draft pick, for most of the game but couldn't stop the other hot shooting Cardinals players.
"For the first half we were going to double down on Jones and try to limit his touches," Montgomery said. "Then at halftime we changed it because he wasn't really hurting us, but their shooters were."
Nader was the only NIU player to score in double digits, something Montgomery would like to see changed down the road.
"I looked at the stats and I see that Ball State had four guys in double figures and that's what I envisioned us to be," Montgomery said.
"We definitely take the team approach; we want to see multiple guys in double figures, we want multiple guys with six, seven or eight points. I thought we had great shots, we just missed them. But sometimes, that's just the way the ball bounces."
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