Staff Writer

DeKALB | Basketball is all about finishing.

Finishing shots, finishing halves and most importantly, finishing games.

Wednesday night, the NIU men’s basketball team had the game within reach late in the second half. However, NIU failed to finish down the stretch, falling at home to Eastern Michigan 65-61.

The Huskies (4-11 overall, 1-2 MAC) were on the verge of a comeback. With 4:26 left in the half, they cut the Eagles’ lead to just three points on a layup by sophomore forward Ervin Najul. That came after NIU trailed by as many as 11 points in the second half.

However, several Huskie miscues gave the Eagles (6-9, 2-1) the chances they needed to take advantage and finish the game.

Down the stretch, NIU had two key turnovers and missed a pair of layups, leaving them just out of reach.

“The turnovers came at crucial times,” NIU head coach Ricardo Patton said. “We also made some poor decisions on offense.”

Even with those mistakes, NIU had a chance late in the game before EMU senior Jarred Axon came off a screen and drilled a three-pointer. The basket extend the Eagle advantage to seven points.

Axon’s three was not a surprise, as he nailed seven in the game to finish with a game-high 23 points.

“Coach [Charles Ramsey] did a good job calling plays,” Axon said. “On the last play, we wanted to run down the clock, and when I came off a screen I was open.”

NIU responded with a three-pointer by freshman Michael Patton and, after forcing a turnover, had a chance to cut the lead to one possession. However, a missed layup took the air out of both the Huskies and the Convocation Center.

“They didn’t steal the game; they took it,” Coach Patton said. “When you steal something, the other person doesn’t see you take it. They did it right in front of us.”