David Coit set career highs with eight 3-pointers and 34 points, as visiting Northern Illinois won its fifth in a row, 89-79 over host DePaul on Saturday night in Chicago.
Coit, who entered the game averaging 18.2 points, went 11 of 19 from the field, and hit more than half of his 15 3-point attempts as the Huskies (5-1) continued their hot start. Zarique Nitter had 19 points and seven rebounds as NIU went 10 of 22 (45.5 percent) from 3-point range.
Da’Sean Nelson scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half for DePaul (1-5), which has lost three straight and allowed its most points of the season.
Coit made his first four shots — all 3-pointers — to put Northern Illinois ahead 19-10. The Blue Demons, though, worked their way and eventually tied the score at 26-26.
However, the Huskies went back up on a Xavier Amos dunk, and never trailed the rest of the way. Coit hit a pair of shots and Philmon Gebrewhit added three points as NIU scored the final seven to lead 43-31 at the break.
DePaul, meanwhile, went the final 4:02 of the first half without scoring. Things got worse to start the second half for the Blue Demons, as NIU scored the first 12 points out of the break to go up 55-31.
That included a 3 from Coit, who has scored at least 20 points in three straight games and four out of the last five games. NIU built that lead to 58-34 with 17:11 to play in the second half.
The Huskies kept the Blue Demons at arm’s length the rest of the night, but after the hosts got within 10, Coit knocked down a 3 with 3:25 remaining in regulation. He repeated the accomplishment when he gave NIU an 82-69 lead with a little over two minutes to go.
Coit then hit four free throws down the stretch to secure his career high and help Northern Illinois beat DePaul for the fourth time in the last 12 meetings.
–Field Level Media
