Being without Xavier Silas for the past two games was a hurdle the NIU men’s basketball team overcame as it won both games despite not having its leading scorer.

In their season finale against Ball State, the Huskies failed to make it a trilogy of wins, sans Silas.

NIU (9-20 overall, 5-11 MAC) dropped its final regular season game on the road to the Cardinals (18-12, 10-6), 67-57.

“We knew coming into the game that [Ball State] would come out with great energy, being senior day,” said NIU head coach Ricardo Patton in a postgame radio interview. “They did a good job both inside and outside early in the game, and we also had 11 turnovers in the first half.”

Ball State put together an 11-1 run in the opening four minutes against the Huskies. NIU’s lone point came from a made free throw, courtesy of center Nate Rucker.

The Huskies’ offense had numerous problems in the first half, including 11 turnovers and only seven field goals made on 20 attempts.

Of the 10 Huskies that played in the first half, only five contributed scoring, including Rucker (three), Tim Toler (nine), Antone Christian (six), Michael Patton (three) and Tony Nixon off the bench (two).

Rucker, who coming into the game was the only Huskie player to appear in all 28 games, went down with an ankle injury. His status is still uncertain for the MAC Tournament.

“Anyone that knows me knows that I don’t make excuses,” Ricardo Patton said. “But the things that have happened with our team with the depletion of our roster, if you take any program just about in the country and have them lose as many guys as we have lost, they are going to struggle.”

Toler earned his second career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Nixon tied a career-high with 11 points.

“Tim did a decent job,” Ricardo Patton said. “He was able to score the basketball, but he still needed to be a little bit more aggressive on the defensive end,”

The Huskies will enter the MAC Tournament with questions surrounding Rucker and Silas, who could join forward Lee Fisher and the little-used guard Kyree Jones on the list of injured players.

“Those are things that are totally out of your control,” Ricardo Patton said. “There is nothing you can do, nothing you can say, but unfortunately nobody cares.”

NIU will take on Bowling Green in the first round of the MAC Tournament at 6 p.m. CT Tuesday. The Huskies fell in overtime to the Falcons, 73-70, in their lone meeting between the two teams. Silas, Fisher and Rucker combined for 39 of NIU’s 70 points in the Feb. 2 against Bowling Green. The threesome of Silas, Fisher and Rucker also pulled down 27 of the Huskies’ 50 total rebounds.

Patton declined the Northern Star’s request for a phone interview following NIU’s loss.