Northern Illinois scores record-low 4 points in half

Scott M Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

Northern Illinois made history once again.

This time it had nothing to do with playing in a bowl game that seemed unfitting.

The NIU men's basketball team broke an NCAA Division I record on Saturday when it scored a mere four points in the first half against Eastern Michigan.

Embarrassingly, Northern Illinois broke its own record for fewest points in the first half during the shot clock era; it scored five against Dayton in a Dec. 1 game.

"Our guys played hard," Huskies coach Mark Montgomery said. "Unfortunately, we just couldn't make a shot. We just needed someone to make a basket to get our team going, but I wouldn't say that we were taking bad shots. We had makeable, open shots, they just wouldn't go in, but our guys kept defending, kept playing hard."

The four first-half points wasn't even the worst statistic of the game, and the bad records kept piling in. The Huskies' 3.2% field goal shooting in the first half also set a record, breaking Savannah State's 4.3% shooting percentage against Kansas State in 2008. The one field goal also tied a D-I record set by Savannah State in the 2008 game.

The Huskies trailed 18-4 at halftime after shooting 1-for-31, which included 29 consecutive misses.

"It becomes contagious, both making shots and missing shots," Montgomery said. "At 18-4, if we come out and make a couple of baskets we would have been right back in it … but it just didn't happen."

Northern Illinois found some kind of a rhythm late in the game. The Huskies only had 13 points with 3:56 remaining but only ended up losing 42-25. This helped the team escape the most daunting record of all: fewest points scored in a game (20), which was set by Saint Louis in 2008.

Surprisingly, NIU scored the first points of the game Abdel Bader scored on a fast break one minute into the game. Then came the astonishing 29 consecutive misses. The team's finishing 13% shooting (eight of 61 from the floor) broke another NCAA record.

NIU's Daveon Balls scored seven of the team's 25 points. Northern Illinois, which features a lineup of mostly freshmen and sophomores, dropped to 4-14 on the season.

Glenn Bryant led Eastern Michigan (10-10, 3-3) with 10 points. The Eagles led 18-4 at the half — the fewest combined points in a half since North Carolina Central (13) and Savannah State (5) combined for 18 in the first half a game on Jan. 20, 2010.

Contributing: The Associated Press