DeKALB – At the beginning of January, NIU men’s basketball’s Mid-American Conference slate got off to a sour start as the team lost its first six conference games of the season.
After getting a much-needed win at home against Ball State University on Jan. 25, NIU lost another seven games, falling further and further into the league basement. That skid looked like it might end Saturday, when the Huskies (5-22, 1-13 MAC) held a 10-point halftime lead over Eastern Michigan University while scoring a school-record 15 triples.
But then they lost in heartbreaking fashion. Again.
Leading 76-72 with 18 seconds left in regulation, NIU surrendered a layup, turned the ball over and gave up another, allowing the Eagles (14-13, 7-7 MAC) to tie a game NIU once controlled by double-digits. The Huskies then coughed the ball up once more, setting up EMU senior guard Jalen Terry for a game-winning rainbow shot as the final buzzer blared.
During his postgame comments, head coach Rashon Burno credited his players for a complete effort while taking aim at the officials, who called 21 fouls against the Huskies – allowing the Eagles to have 36 attempts from the free-throw line.
“Those kids battled for 40 minutes,” Burno said. “I thought we had the right game plan. I thought they tried to execute it, but you can’t substitute size. I thought the officiating was horrible. Like, horrible.”
Sophomore guard Quentin Jones led the Huskies with 20 points while senior guard James Dent Jr. scored 19. Meanwhile, redshirt freshman forward Tsvet Sotirov put up a single-game best 17 points while shooting 5-for-6 on 3-pointers. NIU set its single-game record for triples made in a game with 15, shooting (55.6% (15-of-27) from 3-point land.
The contest got off to a competitive start with four lead changes and three ties in the first 10 minutes of action. NIU then got hot on its 3-point shooting, making 11-of-17 triples in the first 20 minutes. Dent put an exclamation point on the first half with a buzzer-beating trey to send the Huskies into halftime with a 48-38 advantage.
“We were moving the ball well,” Sotirov said. “We had some tough ones, too, but it wasn’t enough in the end.”
Upon returning to the court after halftime, NIU fell back into old habits. After making a single free throw to open the second half, the Huskies allowed Eastern Michigan to storm back with an 11-0 run to tie the game at 49 with 16:03 left.
“That’s been a thing that we do the whole season,” Sotirov said. “It’s getting repetitive now and very annoying.”
The two squads tied twice more before the Eagles landed a 3-pointer with 12:09 remaining to take their first lead since early in the first half. The Huskies quickly regained the upper hand and found its 3-point shooting rhythm. NIU took its largest lead since halftime with 3:58 to go, when Jones drained his fifth triple and NIU’s record-setting 15th of the game.
NIU would only score 2 more points the rest of the night – those coming off a Jones layup to put the Huskies up 76-69 with 1:21 remaining, which Terry quickly answered with a triple. With 18 seconds to go, Eagles senior forward Da’Sean Nelson added a layup to make it a one-score game, 76-22. NIU junior guard Steven Tipton promptly coughed up the ball, allowing Terry score EMU’s second layup in 2 seconds.
NIU’s ensuing inbound led to a costly turnover, prompting Burno to use a timeout to scheme a play that would keep the Eagles from making the Huskies pay for their late-game errors. However, the final sequence saw Eastern Michigan take advantage of a blown assignment as Terry’s 35-foot buzzer-beater left the home crowd stunned.
Though they’re now the losers of eight straight and firmly out of postseason contention, the Huskies haven’t lost their resolve to compete in the final four games of the regular season.
“We’ve fought the whole year,” Jones said. “We’ve been fighting these last few games. We’re going to continue to do that regardless.”
NIU will head back on the road for its next outing at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Oxford, Ohio, where it’ll square off against the MAC’s second-leading team in Miami University (20-7, 11-3 MAC). The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
