DAYTON, Ohio—In a season that lasted longer than anyone expected, NIU ran out of time.

The Huskies, playing in a first-round NCAA Championship game against St. John’s Friday, overcame their first-half jitters and a 25-point Redmen lead to stage a fierce second-half comeback, only to fall short 75-68.

Considering that the Huskies were playing in only their second NCAA Tournament game ever, that St. John’s has appeared in a postseason tournament for a national-record 27 years straight, and that the Redmen were seeded fourth in the Midwest Region while NIU was 14th, St. John’s was expected to be the team moving on to the second round.

And the Huskies played the opening half against the Redmen as if they expected it too.

St. John’s used its quickness, size advantage and Big East-hardened experience to jump out to a 10-2 lead four minutes into the game. All-Big-East forward Malik Sealy and teammate Jason Buchanan, a jet-quick 6-0 guard, sliced through NIU’s defense to stake the Redmen to a 41-25 halftime lead.

NIU’s relative inexperience appeared to be paving the way for a Redmen rout. “What hurt us the most … is that we came out very tight,” said NIU coach Jim Molinari, who was making his first head-coaching appearance but is a tourney veteran as an 11-year DePaul assistant. “Our tightness showed up not only in our missing shots, but it showed up in our competitive level.

“We respected them but maybe didn’t understand how hard we’d have to fight from the very start.”

Senior guard Donald Whiteside agreed. “We came out with a lot of jitters,” he said. “We didn’t meet St. John’s intensity at the beginning of the game. It took a whole half for us to react and get with the flow.”

“I was worried at halftime about how our young men would react,” Molinari added. “I shouldn’t have worried because players like Donnell (Thomas) and Donald (Whiteside) have responded all year.”

Friday they responded by leading a dramatic comeback. After building a 59-34 advantage, the Redmen watched as the Huskies reversed first-half roles. NIU started hitting its shots and a suddenly cold St. John’s appeared to be letting the game slip away.

The comeback was spurred when Molinari put in all five of his seniors and gave them a sideline pep talk. “I told them, ‘look, how do you want to finish your career? The game’s not over, we can come back. You guys need to play like you’ve played for me for two years,'” Molinari said.

The Huskies responded.

Thomas, who would finish with a game-high 23 points to become NIU’s all-time leading scorer, hit a baseline jumper to bring the Huskies within 65-59 at the 2:16 mark. With the pro-NIU crowd roaring to life, St. John’s called a timeout.

Whiteside responded to two Redmen free throws with a 10-footer to keep NIU within six at 67-61 with 1:40 left, but Buchanan hit three free throws down the stretch and Sealy added a fastbreak layup to put St. John’s up 75-65 with 11 seconds left. Thomas capped his career and the NIU season by drilling a three-pointer at the buzzer to make the final 75-68.

“In the second half,” Whiteside said, “we kind of settled down and took our time, knocked down some big shots and got going offensively.”

“(NIU) came out and got hot,” Sealy said. “We got cold due to some good defensive play by them and they got right back in.”

St. John’s head coach Lou Carnesecca appeared to be happy to escape with any kind of victory. “It was not as much that we let down as we didn’t put the ball in the basket … and they made their shots,” Carnesecca said. “It would have been nice if we could have knocked them out but a decision counts just as much.”

St. John’s moved to 21-8 and a second-round game against Texas with the win while NIU finishes at 25-6, including a Mid-Continent regular-season title, a school-record 25 wins and the first at-large NCAA bid in school history.

After reflecting on the tough loss in front of a throng of national media, Molinari put the season into perspective. “I think,” Molinari said, “this was the most special season in Northern Illinois basketball history.”