DAYTON, Ohio—Donnell Thomas earned his nickname of the “D-Train” because of his non-stop locomotion on the basketball court, but after an eventful week, Thomas lived up to his nickname by riding the tracks of an emotional roller coaster.

NIU’s four other seniors went along as active participants in their final ride in the Huskies’ cardinal and black.

The high point came Sunday as Thomas and his teammates watched the announcement of their selection by the NCAA. The low point was Friday’s first-round loss to St. John’s.

At the end of the ride for Thomas was the No. 1 spot on NIU’s all-time scoring list.

The five seniors: Thomas, Donald Whiteside, Stacy Arrington, Andrew Wells and Antwon Harmon, capped the end of their careers, along with the end of NIU’s most successful season ever, in the first round of a tournament most observers thought that the Huskies would never reach.

“There were no words that could explain how we felt,” Thomas said shortly after he and his teammates exploded in a joyous frenzy in a DeKalb hotel room as they watched their NCAA selection. “It was ecstatic in the room, guys were all on top of each other, hugging each other, loving each other … all the hard work payed off.”

The payoff was a showdown with Big East power St. John’s in the first round Friday afternoon.

In the second half of the Redmen victory, Thomas hit a short baseline jumper with 2:16 left to move him past Allen Rayhorn into the No. 1 scoring spot. Thomas finished with a game-high 23 points, 12 rebounds and 1,853 career points.

The game marked the end for a group of NIU seniors that won 42 games the last two seasons.

“The seniors really wanted to go out fighting,” Whiteside said after the Huskies battled back from a 25-point deficit against the Redmen. The comeback was sparked when coach Jim Molinari put in his five seniors as a unit for the last time.

“Five guys put their hands together and we came out and fought hard,” Whiteside said.

“These guys were not only a great team but also great people and I enjoyed being with them,” he added. “I’ve become like family with them and I’m going to miss them a lot.”