DeKALB | Things continued to unravel for the NIU men’s basketball team.

The Huskies (7-18 overall, 3-9 MAC) latest undoing came in a 60-48 loss to Seattle (10-16, 3-11) at the Convocation Center Saturday afternoon. The double-digit defeat extended NIU’s losing streak to a season-high seven games.

NIU head coach Ricardo Patton elected to sit his starters after they scored only 12 points in the first half. Patton’s decision to put his bench on the floor would lead to more offensive production as they Huskies tripled their first half point total with 36.

“Unfortunately we had too deep of a hole for that unit to overcome but I am very proud of the way they played,” Patton said.

Patton stated that he saw a “lack of ball movement” and a “lack of playing together” from his team during the first half.

The Huskies had numerous problems on offense in the first 20 minutes of play, including shooting 13 percent, and connecting on 4-of-29 field goal attempts. Ten of NIU’s 29 shot attempts came from beyond the arc, but none would find the net.

“Usually when you have a team shoot what they shot, it’s usually a combination of you doing some good stuff and them maybe not playing as well as they needed to play in order to shoot better,” Redhawks coach Cameron Dollar said.

One player who noticeably struggled was Huskies guard Xavier Silas. The senior connected on only one of his seven shot attempts and never found a way to get in rhythm. Patton was so displeased of his star player’s performance that Silas played only five minutes in the second half, compared to the 16 he played in the first. Although Patton never directly called out any of his players, he did offer an observation about some of his seniors.

“Sometimes, when you have guys that this is their last go around, maybe they start to think about life after college as opposed to thinking about their team,” Patton said. “I’m not quite sure, it certainly surprised me.”

NIU’s bench saw major playing time after the intermission, including guards Michael Patton, who scored a team-high 15 points and Antone Christian, who chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds.

Patton went on to validate his reason on why he decided to sit his starters and give the bench an opportunity to win the game for the Huskies.

“The guys that finished the game were the guys that I thought played until the end,” Patton said. “They didn’t have any quit in them. They weren’t selfish and they gave us everything they had.”

Patton added that having players who are talented and experienced on the floor, will give them a better chance to win, but only when they’re playing together.

“At the end of the day, you still need your better players, your older players to carry the bulk of the load and not come out and play the way we played and dig ourselves that big of a whole [in the first half,]” Patton said.

Huskie players were not available for comment following the conclusion of Saturday’s game.

The Huskies will host Central Michigan Wednesday at 7 p.m. The contest will conclude a four-game home stand.