Temperatures dropped well below freezing in DeKalb Saturday afternoon, but the NIU men’s basketball team heated things up in the Convocation Center.

Three Huskies reached a career high in points in NIU’s 93-81 victory over Chicago State (3-4). Saturday’s 93 points marked the highest point total the Huskies have reached since Feb. 26, 2006.

Darion “Jake” Anderson led NIU (4-5) with 32 points, seven rebounds and six assists. The sophomore guard also chipped in on the defensive end swiping five steals. Sean Kowal dominated the paint, scoring 23 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.

“I’m really proud of our young guys for continuing to battle for 40 minutes,” said NIU head coach Ricardo Patton. “We dug ourselves a hole early in the game, and I thought we were being bullied early on. (Chicago State) came in here totally expecting to win, and we had to play well to come away with a victory.”

CSU guard David Holston led the Cougar offense with 32 points on 10-of-22 shooting. Forward Carl Montgomery tallied 13 points with 11 rebounds.

The Huskies struggled out the gate and were plagued with turnovers early on. NIU found itself in a hole, trailing 32-22 with 8:49 remaining in the first half.

“I have identified the enemy and he is us,” Patton said. “We had far too many turnovers and too many mistakes. There were far too many second chance opportunities for Chicago State.”

The Huskies then responded with a 14-4 run over the next five minutes. Freshman Mike DiNunno, who finished with 14 points and nine assists, found Kowal under the basket with about two minutes remaining for a pair of dunks that tied the game at 38-38. The two teams then went into the locker room at the half with the game tied 41-41.

“The scouting report showed we had an advantage in the post,” DiNunno said. “I made it a point to focus on where Sean was this game.”

NIU opened the second half with a 12-5 run, kicked off by Najul Ervin’s poster dunk over CSU’s Montgomery that sent the Convocation Center crowd of 1,247 into a frenzy. The sophomore finished with a career-high 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Huskies led by as many as 19 in the contest and shot 61 percent from the field and held the Cougars to 41 percent shooting.

NIU finishes up its non-conference schedule over winter break with a match-up at Arkansas-Little Rock Sunday.