EDWARDSVILLE | Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville hit a buzzer beater shot to steal a 64-62 win away from NIU men’s basketball.

The Huskies shot 38 percent in the second half and let a possible win slip through their fingers.

In their Sears Bracket Buster game Saturday, NIU came back from five points down to tie the game at 62 all, but after a missed free throw, Mark Yelovich’s game-winning basket sealed the win for SIUE.

“What a finish,” said NIU coach Mark Montgomery. “I’m still trying to figure out how they made that shot. Both sides played hard, the game could have gone either way.”

SIUE (8-16, 4-9 OVC) came out firing the three-ball early and took an early 11-6 lead, but NIU went on an 11-0 run to gain a 17-11 advantage after the first nine minutes.

NIU (3-22, 2-10 MAC) out-rebounded the Cougars 20-13, and shot 43 percent from the field in the first half, , propelling it to a 34-24 halftime advantage.

The Cougars went on a 10-6 run to start the second half and tied the game at 40.

SIUE frequently went to the line, pushing the Huskies deeper and deeper into foul trouble..

“I told them hey, ‘Quit living at the three point line.’ And I thought we got to the foul line in the second half and took more aggressive shots instead of just launching up threes,” said SIUE coach Lennox Forrester.

With SIUE leading 62-59, a controversial out of bounds play saw the referees reverse a call on the floor and give the ball back to the Cougars with only 50 seconds left in regulation.

SIUE guard Kris Davis missed two free throws, and NIU’s Aksel Bolin scored on a layup while getting fouled. Bolin missed his free throw, setting up Yelovitch’s fadeaway jumper for the win for SIUE.

“I was trying to get the ball, get balance and just shoot it so we could get at least something before time ran out,” Yelovitch said.

Yelovitch finished with 21 points, going seven of 11 from the field with seven made free throws, and Davis finished with 14 points for SIUE.

Abdel Nader and Tony Nixon each finished with 12 points for NIU, and seven other Huskies scored.