The NIU men’s basketball team survived a second-half surge by the Aurora Challenge to post a 100-93 victory at West Aurora High School Monday night.

Ex-Huskies Rodney Davis and Randy Norman helped the Challenge bounce back from a 20-point first-half deficit to take a short-lived 80-79 lead with 6:59 left to go. But the NIU co-captain tandem of Donald Whiteside and Donnell Thomas got the Huskies back in front to stay just three minutes later.

Whiteside hit Thomas with a no-look touch pass for an easy layup that made it 90-85 with four minutes to go. On the next possession, Whiteside found Thomas on the fastbreak for a two-hand slam that opened the margin to seven and ended the Challenge’s threat.

“It’s a good thing to have a game like this where we’re in a tight situation and we didn’t take the apple,” said NIU head coach Jim Rosborough. “We could have folded here, but we didn’t.”

Thomas led the Huskies with 23 points on 10-of-16 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. Whiteside knocked in 20 points, including 3-of-7 from 3-point range, and a game-high 10 assists.

Whiteside and fellow guard Stacy Arrington persevered under tough defensive pressure and the taunting tongue of Challenge guard Revin Fellows throughout the game.

Rosborough said he thought that hitting free throws late in the game and putting up with Fellows’ constant verbal abuse was a good experience.

“I didn’t particularly care for (Fellows’) sportsmanship with his mouth, but that’s what our kids are going to see,” Rosborough said. “So our kids had to respond with their backs to the wall.”

Arrington responded with 16 points and five assists on 6-for-11 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from the line. Antwon Harmon and Andrew Wells added 16 and 12 points, respectively, for the Huskies. Harmon shot just 5-for-12 from the field in his first preseason game action, but managed 6-for-7 from the charity stripe.

“I thought (Harmon) played very well for the first time out,” Rosborough said. “He’s obviously going to help us on the boards.”

Jo Jo Jackson pitched in nine points and two assists off the bench to give NIU some much-needed punch when Whiteside and Arrington were taking breathers.

“It was good to see Jo Jo hit a shot or two,” Rosborough said. “He’s going to play quite a bit for us.

The Huskies continue preseason play with an intrasquad scrimmage Friday night at Shabbona High School.