That hurts.

The NIU men’s basketball team discovered the meaning of agony Monday night at Chick Evans Field House when Illinois-Chicago’s Nate Chambers canned a three-point basket at the buzzer to beat NIU 83-81. The Huskies’ record fell to 5-17 while UIC improved to 8-16.

“It was designed like that,” Chambers said sarcastically of the play that ended with him netting his first successful three-point shot of the season. “We’re on an emotional high.”

So were most of the 1,180 fans until Chambers’ shot swished through.

The Huskies’ appeared to be headed for their second consecutive win up to that point. Sophomore Brett Andricks had put NIU up 81-80 with 0:08 to go on a turnaround nine-foot jump shot. The 6-foot-3 guard finished with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 2-of-4 from three-point land.

Instead of immediately calling a timeout after Andrick’s basket, UIC brought the ball to midcourt before stopping the clock with three ticks remaining. The Flames tried to inbound the ball to their outside threat Jeff Delaney, but NIU had him blanketed defensively.

Chambers, who wound up with a game-high 25 points, barely beat the five second count when he took the in-bounds pass. A SportsVision replay showed Chambers’ foot to be on the boundary line when he accepted the pass. Fighting to get free from NIU center John Culbertson, Chambers forced up his 20-foot winning shot as the clock turned to 0:00.

“I’m not a big believer in percentages,” NIU head coach Jim Rosborough said, “but if there had been any guy in the gym outside of (Aurora reporter) Dan Murr to shoot the shot, that would have been the kid.”

NIU co-captain Mike Grabner, who carried the bulk of his team’s scoring responsibility late in the game, stuck up for his teammate who was beaten on Chambers’ shot.

“There was nothing John (Culbertson) could have done,” said Grabner. “He was right in his face.”

Grabner tallied 10 of the Huskies’ final 17 points and scored 8 points in a row during one stretch. The 6-foot-9 center finished with 12 points and led the Huskies in rebounds with 7.

The top rebounder on the floor was UIC’s Derrick Johnson. He grabbed 12 rebounds as the Flames outrebounded NIU 36 to 34. It was only the third time this season the Huskies did not win the battle of the boards.

UIC also held superiority in three-point shooting. Behind Delaney’s 6-of-12 long-range bombing, the Flames hit on 9-of-15 treys to NIU’s 4-of-7. Delaney finished with 24 points, almost 13 over his average.

The Huskies’ Jo Jo Jackson raised his scoring average as well. He poured in a career-high 16 points, matching Andricks for team scoring honors in the game. Jackson, who did not start the second half after a 14-point first half, played 20 minutes Monday night. He has scored 27 points in his last 28 minutes of action.

Another Huskie who played well in limited court time was Brian Banks. He contributed 14 points in less than 24 minutes on the floor. Both Banks and Jackson, who played forward instead of his usual guard spot, started for the Huskies.

Donnell Thomas found himself on the bench when the game started as punishment for missing a study hall. The freshman rebounding sensation played just over half the game and collected 6 rebounds and 6 points.

The loss appeared to demoralize the youthful Huskies to a dangerously low point, and Rosborough said it would take a special effort to get a win Tuesday when Central Florida visits DeKalb.

“I told them in the locker room tomorrow night may be the biggest character test that they’ve ever faced in their lives,” Rosborough said.

The Huskies’ winning percentage remains the worst of the NCAA’s independent schools, dropping to .227.