Thanks to a perfect Storm, a replay and a Norwegian who can make free throws, NIU beat Miami (Ohio) 62-59 in dramatic fashion.

Huskies’ forward Tyler Storm scored a career-high 17 points, and two clutch free throws by Stian Berg and a last second buzzer beater that counted, then didn’t count ended NIU’s six-game losing streak.

“This was probably the best two halves of basketball we’ve played all year,” said NIU coach Mark Montgomery. “We had to show a lot of resiliency because we got down by ten in the second half, but our guys fought back. It was a belief tonight, which was nice.”

From tip-off, the game proved to be a good matchup, as both teams went back-and-forth in the first half alone. The first half featured eight ties and six lead changes between NIU and Miami.

NIU (3-19, 2-8 MAC), relied heavily on the three-pointer in the first half, hitting on six of its eight three-point attempts. The Huskies benefitted from the hot-shooting of Storm, who matched his season-high in points with 10 in the first half alone.

“Tyler had an unbelievable game,” Montgomery said. “He kept us in it in the first half.”

Miami (7-15, 3-7 MAC) tried to match NIU trey-for-trey, as it took 10 three-pointers in the first half and sunk four of them. The RedHawks trailed NIU 30-29 at halftime.

The RedHawks got a lot of open looks as NIU tried to double-team forward and MAC Player of The Week Julian Mavunga, and as a result, got solid production all around.

“The play of Tyler Storm and the help defense from our other guys to keep Mavunga from scoring was exceptional,” Montgomery said.

With Mavunga sitting for the early part of the second half, Miami guard Jon Harris and center Drew McGhee scored 12 of the RedHawks’ first 16 points of the second half. Miami capitalized on NIU’s forced missed-shots and turnovers, taking a 44-34 lead at the 13:45 mark.

Miami coach Charlie Coles said he sat Mavunga because he believed the senior was faking an injury.

“When you’re a senior, and it’s February, and you have an injury that I didn’t see happen, I’m not going to honor that,” Coles said. “He didn’t play hard.”

NIU was able to stay in the game, whittling the lead to 45-39, and then to 51-48 with seven minutes left to play. NIU forward Aksel Bolin, who finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, knocked down a three-pointer with 2:19 left to play, putting NIU up 58-56.

“I was open, I don’t remember who passed me the ball, but I was ready, and I let it go,” Bolin said.

Two free throws by Miami guard Quinten Rollins tied the game at 58-58, but Berg gave the Huskies the lead back by making a layup with 38 seconds left to make the score 60-58.

With time still left, Miami had its chances to tie the game, but a foul by McGhee, and a missed free throw by Mavunga killed the RedHawks late.

Mavunga finished with 15 points, and three other RedHawks scored in double-figure. However, Miami saw two 10-point leads evaporate in the second half.

“I want to congratulate Northern Illinois; they deserved to win,” Coles said. “Montgomery out-coached me. He really did. We fell apart, and they got stronger. We were doing real good, and then we got careless, rebounding and playing smart got to us in the end. We didn’t play very smart down the stretch.”