DeKALB | The story for nearly all NIU men’s basketball games sound the exactly same.

Good first half, bad second half. Such was the story for Thursday’s 68-54 loss at Western Michigan.

In the first half, the Huskies (6-22 overall, 3-12 MAC) came out like the team that beat WMU (14-15, 8-7) three times in a row dating back to last season, leading by two at the intermission.

Then the second half happened.

“The Western defense came out with great energy,” NIU head coach Rob Judson said. “We didn’t have continuity.”

WMU opened up with a 13-4 run and continued piling on points, going ahead as much as 20 with 7:15 left in the game. The Huskies couldn’t find any offense, shooting 23.8 percent from the field.

McKinney led NIU with 16 points and six rebounds. David Kool led all WMU scorers with 19 points. Joe Reitz added 13 points and 13 rebounds.