BOWLING GREEN, OH. — Over the past few weeks, the men’s basketball team has been in its share of close games.

It started with a one-point loss to the University of Wisconsin—Green Bay Phoenix to close out the non-conference slate and has moved into Mid-American Conference play.

Three of the Huskies’ first four league games were settled by three points or fewer, and they added another game to that ledger Saturday on the road at Bowling Green State University as the Falcons held on for the 66-64 win.

“We had seven or eight chances to take the lead in the second half,” Head Coach Mark Montgomery said in a news release. “We finally did, but then [Bowling Green] made plays.”

The Huskies, who fall to 9-9 overall and 2-2 in conference play, trailed by nine points at the break but erased that deficit in a little less than five minutes. Senior guard Eugene German canned a 3-pointer at the 14:38 mark of the second half to cut the Falcons’ lead to 41-40. The teams were never separated by more than six points the rest of the game.

The Huskies finally took their first lead of the second half on a dunk by redshirt senior forward Lacey James, giving NIU a 55-54 lead with 5:10 to go. The teams once again found themselves tied with 2:06 to play when a German bucket tied the game at 60.

Senior guard Dylan Frye, who scored 14 points for BGSU, gave the Falcons the lead for good when he canned a 3-pointer with 49 seconds left. He then iced the game with a free throw with eight seconds to go.

German was one of three Huskies in double figures with a game-high 19 points, while sophomore guard Trendon Hankerson scored 13, and senior forward Noah McCarty tossed in 10 while grabbing eight rebounds.

The Huskies’ road trip in Ohio continues when they meet the Kent State University Golden Flashes 6 p.m.Tuesday at the Memorial Center. The game will be televised on ESPN+.