Valentine’s 27 lead Northern Illinois past UMass 70-68

By Canadian Press on January 17, 2026.

DEKALB, Ill. (AP) — Makhai Valentine had 27 points in Northern Illinois’ 70-68 win over UMass on Saturday.

Valentine shot 9 of 17 and added four steals for the Huskies (6-11, 2-4 Mid-American Conference). Hassan Washington scored 11 points and added five rebounds. Gianni Cobb added eight points, six assists and six steals.

The Minutemen (11-8, 2-5) were led by Leonardo Bettiol, who recorded 25 points, seven rebounds and two steals. UMass also got 16 points from Marcus Banks. K’Jei Parker also put up 15 points and five rebounds.

Northern Illinois went into halftime leading UMass 40-33. Valentine put up 13 points in the half. Northern Illinois used an 8-0 second-half run erase a two-point deficit and take the lead at 60-54 with 6:52 left in the half before finishing off the victory. Valentine scored 14 second-half points. Dylan Ducommun’s two free throws with 3:18 to play gave the Huskies the lead for good.

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

The Associated Press

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