Northeastern Illinois Beats U.S. International

U.S. International just couldn’t hold onto a five-point halftime lead and lost to Northeastern Illinois, 87-82, Tuesday.

After trailing, 40-35, at halftime, Northeastern (1-3) scored nine consecutive points in a three-minute span to lead 62-52.

With just two minutes remaining Kevin Bradshaw scored to put USIU ahead, 78-77, giving the Gulls (1-4) its final lead of the game. Darrell Elebye scored with just over one minute remaining to Northeastern a 79-77 lead.

The Gulls jumped to a 20-12 lead, their biggest in the game with 10:30 remaining in the first half.

The Golden Eagles just better than USIU from the field and had more opportunities from the free throw line. Northeastern went 29 of 56 (52%) from the field and went 28 of 37 (76%) from the free throw line. USIU shot 34 of 73 (47%) from the field and 13 of 16 from the line.

Bradshaw led all scorers with 29 points and had five rebounds. USIU was also led by Isaac Brown with 20 points and O.J. Bonner, who scored 10 points and had 10 rebounds.

Northeastern was led by Minson Rubin with 21 points and Kevin Flegner with 16.