N. Illinois 97, SE Missouri 73

Published Feb. 22, 2009 4:35 a.m. ET

foxsports

Sean Kowal had 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead Northern Illinois to a 97-73 win over Southeast Missouri in an ESPNU BracketBuster game on Saturday. Darion Anderson had 18 points, Mike Dinunno had 16 and Sean Smith added 11 for Northern Illinois (8-17, 3-9 Mid-American). Kenard Moore scored 36 points for Southeast Missouri (3-25, 0-16 Ohio Valley), and Jaycen Herring added 22 for the Redhawks. The Huskies outscored Southeast Missouri 44-26 in the paint, 31-13 off turnovers, 23-7 on second-chance points, and 30-7 off the bench. Southeast Missouri scored the first bucket of the game, but Northern Illinois outscored the Redhawks 19-0 over the next four minutes and ended the first half ahead 51-31. The Redhawks strung together a 20-5 run over a 7-minute span in the second half to pull within 82-63, but that was the closest they got.