DeKALB – Men’s basketball snapped its six-game losing streak with a 70-65 victory against Western Michigan University Tuesday in the Convocation Center, moving to 6-9 in Mid-American Conference play.

Four Huskies scored in double figures, led by senior forward Levi Bradley who finished with a team-high 16 points on 7-9 shooting and five rebounds.

“I can’t believe I’m happy to say this, but I’m so happy February is over with,” Bradley said. “I’m ready to move onto March and get some momentum before MAC [tournament] play.”

The Huskies victory went wire-to-wire; never trailing after junior guard Eugene German opened the game’s scoring with a jumper 15 seconds into the contest.  

NIU took a 24-15 lead after sophomore guard Rod Henry-Hayes made a 3-pointer with 9:03 left in the first half. Western Michigan then scored nine-unanswered points to tie the game at 24 with 6:37 until halftime.

The two team’s exchanged points before junior forward Noah McCarty closed out the half scoring seven points, including a putback at the buzzer to give the Huskies a 38-29 lead at the game’s midway break.

In addition to finishing with 12 points and nine rebounds, McCarty donned NIU’s defensive chain necklace to represent the team’s defensive player of the game.

McCarty was tasked with guarding Western Michigan center Seth Dugan, who recorded 23 points and 11 rebounds in the Broncos 76-74 Feb. 12 victory over the Huskies.

“Any time you’re playing a 7-footer, it’s a tough matchup,” McCarty said. “If you don’t let him get the ball, and the farther away he is from the hoop, the better chances you have of stopping him.”

Bradley finished the half with 14 points on 6-6 shooting. His contest versus the Broncos was his 126th game with NIU, tying Travon Baker for most games played in program history.

“It’s my teammates,” Bradley said. “We made it an emphasis that we’re going to punch the ball a lot against Western and that’s what we did. My team looked for me and gave me my best opportunity to get a bucket.”

Henry-Hayes knocked down his fourth 3-pointer of the game with 7:34 remaining before stealing the ball and dishing an assist to senior guard Dante Thorpe for a layup to give NIU its largest lead of the game, 63-48.

Henry-Hayes finished with season-highs of 12 points and 4-4 on shots from beyond the arc.

“I just have to thank my teammates for finding me in the open spots,” Henry-Hayes said. “I was just shot ready and knock it down.”

The Huskies held the Broncos to 43.3 percent shooting from the field and didn’t allow a 3-pointer in the second half. NIU nabbed nine steals and scored 20 points off 15 Western Michigan turnovers.

“It started on the defensive end,” Head Coach Mark Montgomery said. “It carried over from [Saturday against] Toledo [with] our energy, our effort [and] our ball pressure. We dictated tempo, we made enough plays offensively to win the game, but it was all our defense and rebounding.”

The Huskies will return to action against Eastern Michigan University 2 p.m. Saturday in the Convocation Center for their last regular season home game.