Men’s basketball hosted the NIU Invitational for the first time in school history over the weekend at the Convocation Center and went 1-2 in the tournament.

The Huskies (1-3), the James Madison Dukes (2-2), the San Jose State Spartans (0-4) and the Milwaukee Panthers (4-1) participated in the tournament.

NIU earned its lone victory and first win of the season against San Jose State, 60-59, Saturday night.

The Huskies were led by redshirt junior center Jordan Threloff with a career-high 17 points. Sophomore guard Daveon “Petey” Balls also scored a career-high with 15 points in the victory.

The Huskies battled all game long and finally figured out how to attack the Spartans’ zone. With a 49-48 lead, Threloff rattled off six straight points to put the Huskies up six, 55-49, down the stretch.

“Travon [Baker] and Petey kept getting me the ball,” Threloff said. “You know, they were making great passes down low and I was able to finish.”

Down the stretch it became a game of free throws. After struggling from the charity strip in their first two games, the Huskies hit just enough to hang on for the win.

“You know what, we’re up to 70 percent at the free-throw line,” said coach Mark Montgomery. “I think that was big difference down the stretch. I think other than two free throws we were very clutch.”

Free throws led to the Huskies’ demise in their 60-55 loss against James Madison on Friday. NIU shot 53.8 percent from the free-throw line, hitting 14-26 foul shots.

“The free-throw line was an Achilles heel again today, but I liked that our guys were taking the ball strong to the basket and getting fouled,” Montgomery said in a news conference.

The Huskies trailed by 10 at the half and rallied to within two, but they could never retake the lead. Sophomore guard Baker led the Huskies with 17 points while junior guard Aaron Armstead added 16 points.

“It was a very competitive game,” Montgomery said in a news conference. “Unfortunately, they were able to get ahead by 10 [at the half], but I thought our guys fought back in the second half. We cut it to two, three or four times, but we just couldn’t get over the hump when we had a shot to take the lead.”

On Sunday, the Huskies let the game against Milwaukee get away from them as they fell, 82-69. NIU led by as much as 14 in the first half, but the Panthers had come back by halftime to take the lead 35-32.

“Unbelievable start to the game,” Montgomery said. “I thought we found our offensive rhythm right away, we got out, we got stops, we got running, and then they tried to slow us down with their 2-3 zone, and I think we got a little stagnant and they started making some plays and we didn’t respond.”

The Panthers did their damage from behind the arc, connecting on 11-31 three-pointers. They were led by Malcolm Moore off the bench with 15 points.

“Give their players credit,” Montgomery said. “Some of those guys came off the bench and made some threes and their stretch four and five, late in the game made a couple threes that I could live with, but they went in.”

Sophomore wing Darrell Bowie came out in a big way after being quiet in the first three games of the season. Bowie led all scorers with his career-high 19 points.