KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's basketball team found itself down by as many as 17 points in the first half, but rallied back to force overtime and eventually outlasted Northern Illinois, 95-90, on Tuesday evening at University Arena. The victory moves the Broncos to 3-0 in Mid-American Conference play for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign.
 
B. Artis White led the charge for Western Michigan (6-9, 3-0), as he poured in a career-high 25 points, 19 of which came in the second half and overtime. White was one of four Broncos to finish in double-figures, with Seth Hubbard (21), Javonte Brown (16) and Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro (12) joining the redshirt junior. Owen Lobsinger corralled a team-high 10 rebounds.
 
NIU (6-9, 0-3) came out hot and quickly built a double-digit lead, as the visitors got out to a 13-3 advantage in the opening five-plus minutes. The Huskies owned a double-digit cushion for the majority of the first half, and led by as many as 17, before Brown cut it to a 15-point margin heading into the break with a last-minute bucket.
 
Western Michigan slowly chipped away at the deficit, and finally worked the margin back into single-digits with a 10-2 run which trimmed the gap to 64-59, just after the midway point of the half. Northern Illinois stretched its advantage back to nine, 76-67, but the Broncos responded with nine consecutive points, and Max Burton tied the game at 76-76 with 1:46 to go in regulation. Trailing by a point with under 30 seconds remaining, White found Hubbard for a layup to give WMU a one-point edge, 79-78. The Huskies made a free throw at the other end to send the contest into overtime.
 
In the extra session, White put the Brown and Gold back on top, 88-86, with 1:53 to go on a pair of free throws. After a defensive stop, the Broncos got another clutch basket from Burton to make it 90-86 with just over a minute to go. The Huskies turned it over on their next possession, and Western Michigan was able to close out from there to remain undefeated in conference play.
 
For the evening, the Broncos went 31-of-58 (53.4 percent) from the floor, while NIU connected on 30-of-63 (47.6 percent) of its field goal tries. Western Michigan also attempted a season-high 47 free throws, its most since it set a program record with 57 free throws in a triple overtime win at Milwaukee on Nov. 9, 2019. WMU won the rebounding battle for the fifth consecutive game, 40-35, and was plus-four in turnover margin.
 
Western Michigan continues its homestand on Saturday afternoon as it welcomes Ohio to University Arena for a noon tip. For tickets to any home WMU men's basketball game this season, visit wmubroncos.com/tickets.