DeKALB | At the end of Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game in DeKalb, one team sat heads in hands, others covered in towels. Coaches: shell-shocked.

The other, huddled together waiting for the buzzer to blow to celebrate victory.

And for the first time in 31 days, NIU wasn’t the team covered in towels, as the Huskies beat Bowling Green 73-51.

The game started like a typical game this season – two straight turnovers that turned into two three pointers – for the Falcons to quickly go up 6-0.

But the Huskies chipped away and took a 11-10 lead on a James Hughes jumper.

Three straight Falcons baskets gave Bowling Green the lead with four minutes left, but a Zach Pancratz three pointer stopped the run.

After the Pancratz basket, NIU guard Quintan Lipkins got into a verbal argument with Bowling Green guard Ryne Hamblet.

Pancratz intervened, attempting to break up the fight. With both teams surrounding the players, Hamblet apparently pushed Lipkins.

After the smoke cleared, no ejections were made, but technical fouls were given to both Lipkins and Hamblet.

“It was two teams being intense,” Pancratz said.

NIU continued its intensity when play resumed when Mike McKinney scored on a layup, giving NIU a 30-26 lead.

“It was big that we came out of that with a McKinney basket,” NIU head coach Rob Judson said. “A basket on the first possession makes a statement.”

After taking a 32-30 lead into halftime, NIU did a roll reversal and went on a 13-0 run. NIU held the Falcons to 26.1 percent shooting in the second half and had only 15 turnovers to Bowling Green’s 21.

The Huskie defense was able to hold Samarco, the MAC’s leading scorer, to eight points on 2-10 shooting.

McKinney’s seven points for the game was good enough to eclipse the 1,000 point career mark. Hughes lead all scorers with 14 points coming off the bench. Hughes has come off the bench the past two games and said he talked Coach Judson into letting him come off the bench to have more energy toward the end of the game.