CLEVELAND | After accumulating its worst overall record since 2001, the season of the NIU men’s basketball team has come to an end.

A 67-62 loss to Western Michigan halted any hope the Huskies had of advancing in the MAC Tournament.

The game, slated to start at 6 p.m. CST, started almost two hours late due to the conference scheduling games two hours apart, and also because games lasted longer than originally estimated. NIU head coach Rob Judson said the team was unaffected by the delay because they knew of the problem ahead of time.

Both teams came out cold in the first half, with NIU shooting 28.1 percent from the field and the Broncos hitting 37.9 percent of their shots in the first half.

The Huskies were within one point of tying WMU following a pair of Ben Rand free throws. But, as has been the case all season, the Broncos went on a 10-0 run with under five minutes remaining in the first half.

The Huskies cut the lead to five on a Shaun Logan jumper with 52 seconds left, heading into halftime trailing 30-25.

To start the second half, NIU cut down on the deficit with help from Logan, whose 3-pointer put NIU within one point of WMU, 33-32.

The Huskies stuck at 32, and the Broncos scored on two consecutive possessions.

As NIU pulled within four, the Broncos went on another run, this time 7-0, to go up 47-36 with 9:31 left in the game. NIU wasn’t able to cut the lead to seven until 2:21 when James Hughes sank a pair of foul shots.

With under one minute left in the game, the Huskies started fouling to try and even the score. NIU was able to get the lead to three on a Cody Yelder layup. But the Broncos couldn’t be shaken on the charity stripe, with David Kool sinking four free throws to close out the game.

Foul line production proved to be the difference in the game, as WMU shot 15 more free throws than the Huskies, making 15 more in the process. As a team, NIU shot 12 for 20 from the line, while the Broncos went 27 for 35.

“What isn’t right is we score more points in the paint and have 21 offensive rebounds,” Judson said. “We should get to the free throw line more.”

Yelder, in his first MAC Tournament game, led all scorers with 20 points on 8-14 shooting, while also chipping in a pair of rebounds. Mike McKinney, in his final game in an NIU uniform, posted 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Kool, the MAC Freshman of the Year, led WMU with 14 points and went 9 of 10 from the line. Joe Reitz added 12 points and 12 rebounds.