Updated

A'uston Calhoun had 25 points and nine rebounds as Bowling Green routed Northern Illinois 74-54 Tuesday night in the first round of the Mid-American Conference tournament.

The seventh-seeded Falcons (14-18) defeated the 10th-seeded Huskies (9-21) for the fifth time in a row by shooting 51.7 percent (31 for 60) in their final game at Anderson Arena. Northern Illinois, which sought its first MAC tournament win since 2003, had held its previous six opponents to 35.8-percent shooting.

Bowling Green, which will play No. 2 seed Western Michigan in the quarterfinals Thursday, broke the game open in the second half, after leading 34-32 at halftime. The Falcons scored the first seven points of the second half to open a nine-point lead and, once they expanded the lead to double-digits, went on a 14-3 run to push the lead to 21 points.

Tim Toler led Northern Illinois with 13 points.