Willis scores 17, Western Michigan takes down Northern Illinois 74-70

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DEKALB, Ill. (AP) — Chansey Willis Jr. scored 17 points as Western Michigan beat Northern Illinois 74-70 on Saturday.

Willis added five rebounds and seven assists for the Broncos (11-18, 8-8 Mid-American Conference). Markhi Strickland scored 14 points while going 5 of 13 and 3 of 6 from the free-throw line. Owen Lobsinger shot 3 of 6 from the field, including 3 for 5 from 3-point range, and went 3 for 4 from the foul line to finish with 12 points, while adding seven rebounds.

The Huskies (5-24, 1-15) were led in scoring by Quentin Jones, who finished with 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals. Tsvet Sotirov added 10 points and eight rebounds for Northern Illinois. James Dent Jr. finished with nine points and six assists. The loss was the Huskies' 10th in a row.

Western Michigan went into halftime leading Northern Illinois 43-34. Willis scored 10 points in the half. Western Michigan used a 10-0 second-half run to take the lead at 65-56 with 8:25 remaining in the half before finishing off the victory. Willis scored seven second-half points.

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Both teams play again on Tuesday. Western Michigan hosts Kent State and Northern Illinois hosts Bowling Green.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.