Bennett Basich's energy off the bench sparks NIU past Clarke, 82-43

Bennett Basich struggled shooting Wednesday like most of his NIU teammates in the Huskies’ 82-43 win over Clarke.But Basich did everything else he could to make sure the Huskies came away with the win in his 19 minutes, finishing with seven points on 3-of-12 shooting, six rebounds, four assists, five steals and a block. And perhaps most important, no turnovers.With coach Matt Majkrzak making most of his first-half substitutions five players at a time, Basich came in with the second group. The Huskies (2-2) were struggling against the Pride (5-2), an NAIA school in Dubuque, Iowa. But at the 7-minute media timeout with NIU leading 20-18, Basich, Jack Daugherty and the Huskies got rolling.It started with a putback by Daugherty, who had eight points and four rebounds. Basich followed with a steal and a 3-pointer. He then got an offensive rebound and an assist on a bucket by Keller Hanson, and the Huskies had pushed their lead to nine in barely two minutes, their biggest to that point.“That