Monday, March 1, 2004
Smith leads Huskies past Eagles
Senior guard scores season-high 29 points in victory
Article by:
Steve Brown - Sports Reporter
• sbrown@northernstar.info
Perry Smith led NIU to its first road victory Saturday, scoring a season-high
29 points in NIU’s 67-61 win over Eastern Michigan.
Smith’s five three pointers in the first half helped the Huskies
maintain a 34-27 advantage going into halftime. Smith also made 10 of
12 from the free-throw line.
“Perry [Smith] got hot,” NIU coach Rob Judson said. “He
can do that from time, to time and when he starts feeling it, he makes
his shots. He did a great job of carrying the load for us in the first
half, and he made a lot of big free throws down the stretch.”
The Huskies (9-18 overall, 4-12 MAC) have won two in a row since breaking
a 10-game losing streak.
NIU won in an opponent’s arena for the first time in more than
a year, with the last win being a 70-68 overtime victory last February
against Eastern Michigan.
NIU shot 64.6 percent from the free-throw line coming into the game,
but improved to 82.6 percent Saturday.
“This was a big win for this team,” Judson said. “Confidence
is part of mental toughness, and our guys have found that. I feel like
our hard work in practice is coming together at the right time, and
that’s turning into a powerful advantage for us. Our team was focused
tonight and played well at the defensive end. Our press really disrupted
them at the end of the game.”
Anthony Maestranzi had a career-high seven assists, and Johnathan Byrd
came off the bench to score six points in 17 minutes. Byrd averaged
one point coming into the game.
“Anthony [Maestranzi] really controlled the basketball game tonight,”
Judson said. “How about Johnathan Byrd? It’s one of those
things where you watch him improve every day in practice, but you don’t
always see it in the games. He played well at both ends of the floor
tonight.”
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