Last night’s 75-65 defeat at the hands of Wisconsin-Green Bay in front of 2,602 at Chick Evans Field House was a tale of two halves for the NIU basketball team.

In the first half, the Huskies (2-1) jumped out to a 10-point advantage, 39-29, thanks to a red-hot Donnell Thomas and Marcus Coty’s 3-point bomb just before the buzzer. Thomas racked up 14-points by intermission, shooting 5-for-5 from the field and 4-for-4 at the free-throw line.

But Green Bay (2-0) held the 6-foot-4 NIU co-captain to just 6 second-half points en route to its third-straight win over the Huskies. A nine-minute stretch of the second half, during which the Phoenix outscored NIU 21-7, made the difference in the game.

“(NIU’s) half was the first half and ours was the second half,” UWGB head coach Dick Bennett said. “That’s about what it boiled down to. I thought in the first half we were playing just a shade faster than we were capable of playing. And then, in the second half, we were more decisive offensively. And that made all the difference in the world.”

After Stacy Arrington (12 points, 2 assists) hit his first two shots of the second half to extend the NIU lead to 12, Green Bay put the clamps on defensively. Jo Jo Jackson’s steal and two-hand slam at 12:58 breathed some life back into the Huskie attack, but UWGB’s Mike Karisny canned three-straight 3-pointers to tie the game at 50.

Forty-two seconds later, Marquis Hines’ running five-footer gave Green Bay the lead they would never relinquish.

Six-foot freshman guard Tony Bennett paced the Phoenix attack with 23 points and nine assists. Karisny added 20 off the bench.

NIU shot 64 percent from the floor in the first half and just 25 percent in the second. Huskie point guard Donald Whiteside picked up his fourth foul three minutes into the second stanza and spent most of the half on the bench before fouling out in the waning minutes.

“The fact that their lead guard got in foul trouble was a factor,” Bennett said. “It’s hard playing without a good lead guard.”

Although noticeably disappointed, NIU head coach Jim Rosborough preferred looking at the big picture.

“Unfortunately, these kind of things may happen with a young team,” Rosborough said. “If we learn and come out with fire, we’re going to be okay. But, it’s disappointing because I think we’re the better team.”

The Huskies next hit the road for three games before returning to Chick Evans for a Dec. 17 game against intrastate rival Southern Illinois.