It wasn`t billed as ”Northern Illinois Night” when the Rockford Lightning played the LaCrosse Catbirds in a Continental Basketball Association game Friday in Rockford`s MetroCentre.
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But it could have been.
On the court, former Huskie stars Tim Dillon and Kenny Battle squared off against each other.
Dillon, returning to action after undergoing arthroscopic right knee surgery five weeks ago, had two points and four rebounds in 13 minutes for Rockford. He had been leading the Lightning in scoring (19.5 points a game)
after six games before going down with the knee injury.
Battle, who hopes to return to the National Basketball Association soon, had 22 points and nine rebounds for LaCrosse.
In the stands were former NIU coach John McDougal and former players Carl Armato, Rodney Davis, Tim Sullivan, Brad Waller and Antwon Harmon. NIU graduate Tom McGinnis handled the play-by-play radio duties for LaCrosse, and NIU product Todd France is the Lightning`s trainer.
Football news: The final pieces to next year`s football schedule are falling into place. Associate Athletic Director Keith Hackett had to scramble a bit when Temple (Big East) and Akron (Mid-American) backed out of contracts after joining conferences. Hackett got Illinois State to replace Akron and Middle Tennessee State to take Temple`s spot. Liberty, coached by former Cleveland Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano, is replacing Murray State. Temple has agreed to play in De Kalb in 1993.
The Huskies have two Big 10 opponents in `92-Illinois and Wisconsin. They open at Illinois Sept. 5, marking NIU`s 800th game.
Northern`s home games include Illinois State (Sept. 12), Middle Tennessee State (Oct. 3), Southern Mississippi (Oct. 10), Liberty (Oct. 24) and Toledo
(Nov. 21).