The men’s basketball team extended its losing streak to four games with a 76-74 loss to Western Michigan University Tuesday in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Defensive struggles plagued the Huskies in the first half, allowing the Broncos to make their first five field goal attempts to take an early 12-5 lead.

Junior guard Eugene German returned from his suspension and immediately made an impact for the Huskies, scoring 11 points in his first 10 minutes to keep the team within 11 through the first 3/4 of the half.

NIU picked up three consecutive defensive stops only once in the opening half. Western Michigan shot 55.2 percent from the field, including 6-12 from beyond the arc, to take a 43-30 lead at the game’s midway break.

Western Michigan senior center Seth Dugan dominated the paint, scoring 16 points and grabbing seven rebounds in the half.

The Huskies shot 13-27 from the field and German scored 13 first half points.

“Our defense let us down in the first half, that’s how they built that 13-point lead,” Head Coach Mark Montgomery said. “I don’t think our offense was bad, but they made more 3-pointers than we did.”

NIU forced three defensive stops to start the second half to reduce its deficit to 43-37 early in the second half.

The Huskies slowed the Broncos’ offense in the second half. Western Michigan shot 42.9 percent from the field in the half, but the Broncos’ free-throw advantage prevented NIU from taking a lead during the contest.

“The free-throw line kind of saved them,” Montgomery said. It seemed like whenever we needed a couple more big stops, we just couldn’t close the possession out.”

Related: Huskies fall to Eastern Michigan

With Western Michigan up 73-60 with 3:58 remaining, senior forward Lacey James knocked down a 3-pointer to spark an 11–1 run to reduce NIU’s deficit to three with 1:37 left in the game.

German, James, senior guard Dante Thorpe and senior forward Levi Bradley all contributed to contributed to  the run.

The Huskies picked up a defensive stop to gain possession with 49 seconds remaining, but Thorpe missed a potential game-tying corner 3-pointer with 39 seconds left in the game.

Sophomore guard Rod Henry-Hayes fouled senior forward Josh Davis to send him to the free-throw line, but Davis missed both attempts.

German made a lay-up and free-throw to reduce Western Michigan’s lead to 76-74 after Western Michigan made a pair of free-throws.

The Broncos missed two free-throws before German missed a potential game tying jump shot to give Western Michigan its first Mid-American Conference win of the season.

German finished the game leading his team with 29 points, seven rebounds and four assists on 12-17 shooting. Thorpe scored 14 points, while James added 11 and Bradley scored 10.

Dugan finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds.

The Huskies will return to the Convocation Center 3:30 p.m. Saturday against Bowling Green State University for the Cram the Convo event.