After reaching 83 points in their last two games, the NIU men’s basketball team struggled offensively against Central Michigan in a MAC West battle Wednesday night.

After beating the Huskies at the Convocation Center earlier in the season, the Chippewas took their winning ways home with them to notch a 63-44 victory over NIU.

“We just ran into one of those nights where nothing was going in the basket. We obviously struggled shooting the three but actually missed some lay-ups as well,” said NIU head coach Ricardo Patton. “As a coach, you struggle to find an offensive answer when your team is struggling. Unfortunately, we didn’t find anyone on our bench that could get anything going offensively tonight.”

For the first time this season, none of NIU’s players scored in double-digit figures. Sophomore Sean Kowal used his 6-foot-11-inch frame to lead the Huskies (7-17 overall, 3-9 MAC) in scoring and rebounding, with nine points and eight boards.

Senior Sean Smith also tallied nine points and brought down four rebounds along with a pair of blocks.

Throughout the first 30 minutes of play, the Huskies kept the score close, staying within six points of their opposition. Going into halftime, CMU held a slight 27-24 advantage before exploding late in the second half.

At the 10-minute mark, the Huskies came as close as they would get for the rest of the game, finding themselves six points behind the Chippewas. CMU then went on a 24-6 run to win by a 19-point margin.

“We were right there in striking distance midway through the second half, but our offense wasn’t helping us,” Patton said. “Basketball is really a simple game – you need to get stops on the defensive end, but you also need to put the ball in the basket.”

MAC West Player of the week Darion “Jake” Anderson entered the match-up after scoring a total of 40 points in his last two games. Earlier in the season, Anderson was handed the worst game of his career when CMU held the guard to only one point. On Wednesday night, Anderson only managed six points, 10 less than his 16.6 season average.

“Jake got into foul trouble early in the game after having some charges called, and we had to sit him for over 16 minutes in the first half,” Patton said. “In the second half, he was well-rested but certainly struggled to find his rhythm offensively. The scouting report on Jake is to take charges on him, and they got a number of those calls. That definitely cost us.”

CMU had four players hit double-digit figures and were led by Antonio Weary, who scored a game-high 11 points. NIU shot 39 percent from the field and only capitalized on 10 of 20 attempts from the free throw line.