N. Illinois trio sends Huskies past Illinois-Chicago 69-63

DEKALB, Ill. -- Dante Thorpe scored 21 points and Levi Bradley scored 18 and gathered 10 rebounds and Northern Illinois beat Illinois-Chicago 69-63 on Thursday night.

Eugene German added 13 points for Northern Illinois (7-5). Thorpe, Bradley and German scored 34 of the Huskies 36 second-half points.

Dikembe Dickson's two free throws tied it at 41 with 12:19 left, and his jumper more than two minutes later put Illinois-Chicago (4-8) ahead 44-43.

Thorpe and German each made a 3 and Bradley added two free throws and Northern Illinois was ahead by seven. Dominique Matthews shaved the deficit to two before German scored six of the Huskies' next 10 points for a 62-53 lead with 3:19 remaining.

Matthews and Marcus Ottey led the Flames with 17 points apiece, Jordan Blount finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Dixson added 11.

Illinois-Chicago was 45 percent from the field shooting against 41 for the Huskies and had a 41-36 rebounding edge but turned it over 17 times.