DeKALB — The men’s basketball team suffered a last-second 72-71 loss to the Ball State Cardinals Tuesday at the Convocation Center.

After trailing by seven with 1:39 left in the game, the Huskies went on a 12-5 run to tie the game. Junior guard Eugene German capped the run with a lay up to pull even at 71 with 1.9 seconds remaining.

Senior forward Lacey James intentionally fouled Ball State senior guard Tayler Persons on the inbounds pass, despite the game being tied, sending Persons to the charity stripe for two free throws.

German said the men’s basketball team won’t single out James’ late-game foul as having led to the loss.

German, senior guard Dante Thorpe and Head Coach Mark Montgomery said the entire team was responsible for the Huskies’ late-game mistake, leading to Persons knocking down the game-clinching free throw.

“It’s not [James’] fault; it’s everybody’s fault,” German said. “We’re not putting it on one person. We made multiple mistakes; my man had 24 points. I’ll take more blame than [James].”

Persons knocked down the first free throw before intentionally missing the second one.

Senior forward Levi Bradley grabbed the rebound but missed the 3/4 court heave, giving NIU its fifth loss in the past seven contests.

{{tncms-inline account=”Khobi Price” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Persons intentionally misses FT. Bradley misses the heave and Huskies lose 5th MAC game out of last 7. <a href="https://t.co/YtdjqseyPA">pic.twitter.com/YtdjqseyPA</a></p>— Khobi Price (@khobi_p) <a href="https://twitter.com/khobi_p/status/1092980162189246466?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2019</a></blockquote>” id=”https://twitter.com/khobi_p/status/1092980162189246466″ type=”twitter”}}

“We just didn’t execute [or] communicate at the end of the game, which is disappointing,” Montgomery said. “It’s a teachable moment. I think it’s going to help us in the long run.”

Montgomery said he was concerned about the energy NIU played with and said the Huskies need to correct their effort.

NIU missed seven consecutive field goal attempts and allowed the Cardinals to close the first half on an 8-0 run to go up 27-25.

German said NIU gave the game away and performed like it didn’t want to play. He said he feels like the team has let up after starting Mid-American Conference play 3-0 and defeating No. 14-ranked Buffalo 77-75 Jan. 22.

German was audibly frustrated in NIU’s timeout huddle after Persons knocked down his sixth 3-pointer of the game. Ball State took its largest lead at 45-34 with 12:55 left in the contest.

Persons finished with a game-high 29 points on 9-13 shooting from the field and 6-9 from beyond the arc.

Related: Huskies drop to second in MAC West

“We have to talk more in transition,” German said. “We gave up two 3-pointers to Persons in the corner, but nobody was by him. We have to communicate.”

After starting the game shooting 12-39 from the floor, the Huskies made 11 of their next 13 field goal attempts to take a 58-57 advantage with 4:36 remaining. Five different players scored during NIU’s 27-15 run.

Ball State went through five minutes of play without a field goal toward the end of the second half.

The Cardinals tied the game at 59 with a Ball State senior center Trey Moses lay up.

The Cardinals found enough success at the free-throw line to keep up the scoring pace with NIU despite their scoring drought.

The Cardinals outscored the Huskies 16-4 from the charity stripe in the second half and went 18-28 from the free-throw line in the contest. NIU went 8-8.

“Some of those whistles were justified,” Montgomery said. “I don’t think we were playing smart enough defense. A few times, we fouled 20 feet away from the basket from someone driving. We just have to lock in a lot better defensively without fouling; it’s just a part of the game.”

Ball State scored seven straight points to go up 66-59 before German scored seven out of NIU’s next 12 points to tie the game at 71 before losing.

German finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block on 7-18 shooting.

Thorpe recorded 15 points, four rebounds and three assists on 6-11 shooting. James and Bradley each scored 12 points. NIU shot 45 percent from the field, including 59 percent in the second half.

Ball State senior center Trey Moses tallied a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds on 7-9 shooting from the field.

“We just have to approach the game how we approached the Buffalo game,” German said. “If we approach every game like that, no team in the MAC can beat us. We’re not approaching the game the same way.”

The Huskies, with a 12-11 overall and 5-5 MAC record, will start a two-game road trip against Eastern Michigan University 1 p.m. Saturday in Ypsilanti, Michigan.