Maybe NIU men’s basketball coach Jim Rosborough was on to something when he said this past season could be divided into thirds. Looking back at the parts might be less painful than remembering the whole.

Phase 1 in this scenario consisted of the Huskies’ 4-6 start that concluded with back-to-back wins at Drake and against Loyola in the Illinois-Chicago McLendon Classic.

Phase 2 saw the Huskies flirt with infamy as Rosborough’s crew lost 10 games in a row, one short of the school record. The most embarassing setback came on Jan. 28 when Division II Wisconsin-Parkside beat NIU 71-70 at Chick Evans Field House.

Three Huskie losses later, the Huskies began Phase 3 with a 94-80 win over Central Connecticut State in DeKalb. NIU finished the campaign’s final eight contests going 4-4, giving the Huskies an 8-20 record.

NIU entered the season with expectations of improving on its 9-19 showing in 1986-87. The Huskies returned four seniors and a promising bunch of freshmen, led by powerful Donnell Thomas. The 6-foot-4, 212 pounder started the season opener against Beloit and scored 6 second-half points after going scoreless in the first stanza. NIU found Beloit to be less than easy prey, as the Huskies trailed in the second half before taking a 79-51 decision.

Following losses to Wisconsin, NCAA Tournament-bound Texas El Paso and Wisconsin-Green Bay, NIU took on eventual Missouri Valley Conference champs Bradley. Playing before a split crowd of 2,451 at the Rockford MetroCentre, NIU surrendered 23 first-half points to national scoring leader Hersey Hawkins but went to the lockerroom tied 41-41.

Hawkins, who finished with 39 points, scored 12 points in the first 6:13 of the second half as the Braves built a 64-47 lead. NIU got as close as four points with 2:04 remaining, but Bradley went on to an 84-78 victory.

After the postponement of a game at Southern Illinois when the officials failed to show, the Huskies lost two of their next three contests. With the new year beginning, NIU traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, where hopes of defeating Drake seemed futile.

NIU had lost all of its road games since Rosborough took over the year before and the probability of beating a perennial Midwest power like Drake had to be small. But NIU shocked the Bulldogs 80-78 on Rodney Davis’ 25-foot three-pointer at the buzzer.

The Huskies then split a pair of games in the McLendon Classic with Loyola and Tennessee State as seniors Davis and John Culbertson garnered all-tourney honors. Culbertson tied a career-high for rebounding when he tore down 15 boards in a 90-80 loss to TSU.

Entering their Feb. 27 meeting with Chicago State, the Huskies stood at 6-19. The Cougars showed up in DeKalb at 8-18 and the stage hardly seemed set for what would be the game of the year for NIU.

The Huskies fell behind by 16 points late in the second half before an amazing rally, capped off by Randy Norman’s three-pointer, that sent the game into overtime. A last-second trey from Davis necessitated a second overtime, where NIU survived a desperation three-point attempt from CSU at the buzzer. Kenton Terrell’s shot clanged off the rim and NIU had itself a 98-97 win.

The season ended Monday night when Eastern Illinois ruined the Huskie seniors’ going-away party, beating NIU 87-81. The Huskies’ All-Midwest candidate, Davis, scored 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting to close out a 1,175-point career, good for ninth on the all-time NIU scoring list.