MORRIS – Sycamore’s boys basketball team was able to grind out a Northern Illinois Big 12 East victory with a 44-36 win Friday over host Morris.

Morris raced out to a 5-0 lead to start the game, but Sycamore forwards Devin Mottet and Ben Niemann helped lead the Spartans back into the game. The Spartans would lead, 11-8, at the end of the first quarter behind six points from Mottet.

“I thought we allowed too many post touches, and that’s not always the post defender’s fault,” Morris head coach Joe Blumberg said. “More ball pressure would have helped. Weakside [defense] would have helped. I though we gave them some buckets they didn’t have to earn.”