Illinois Benedictine College (14-4), a Division III school, came into the Chick Evans Field House Monday night and took full advantage of a tired NIU men’s basketball team to nearly pull off what would have been a major upset.

NIU (13-2) barely hung on for a 69-65 victory and NIU head coach Jim Molinari admits that his team may need some rest before heading on to face Akron Saturday.

“I think we are a tired team,” Molinari said. “We will probably need to take a day off, and get our legs back.”

IBC’s success in staying in the game was very similar to Wisconsin Green-Bay’s success during W-GB’s 63-57 victory over the Huskies on Saturday night. Both teams were able to nail three-pointers on the NIU defense.

“We’ll have to work on defending the threes,” said Molinari. “When we got tight and they (IBC) hit those threes from everywhere.

“I’m not taking anything away from IBC, they’re a very good team. They did a good job, and they out-fought us and got the loose balls in the crucial situations. I’m really proud of our seniors. They came through in the clutch.”

On Saturday night, W-GB (11-4) kept it’s poise amid the rowdy Huskie crowd of 6,060 that packed the fieldhouse to hit six of 10 three-pointers to give NIU its first conference loss of the season. The loss was also the first suffered by the Huskies since the Dec. 1 loss at Minnesota.

“The difference in the game was the six of 10 three-point shooting by Green Bay,” Molinari said. “Green Bay’s a great team and we just have to keep working.

Molinari also expressed his appreciation of the crowd support after Monday’s game. “I’m really excited about the atmosphere we’re creating here. The students, the faculty, and the town, are helping the team.”