DeKALB | In a season full of losses, the NIU men’s basketball team knows how to value a win.

With an 81-74 win over Ohio, the Huskies find themselves in a winning streak for the second time this year. The win also snapped Ohio’s 14-game home-win streak.

“It was our day today,” head coach Rob Judson said. “We scored 36 points in the paint to Ohio’s 30. That’s usually what determines a basketball game.”

Both teams battled back and forth in a first half with the five lead changes.

But with less than a minute and a half left in the game, a Bristan Kelley layup put NIU (6-17, 3-8) up by four.

After a Jerome Tillman layup cut NIU’s lead back to two, Judson called a time out and subbed in James Hughes. The center made an immediate impact scoring on a layup with 22 seconds left to put NIU up 36-32.

In the second half, the Huskies couldn’t pull away from Ohio, with the Bobcats (16-8, 7-4) able to tie the score at 36 on two straight baskets.

NIU responded with its own three straight baskets to put the Huskie lead up to six. As a team, NIU shot 70 percent from the field in the second half.

NIU controlled the lead for the entire second half, going up as much as 12 with less than four minutes left.

It also helped that Ohio shot only 36.5 percent from the field.

The Bobcats managed to chip NIU’s lead down to four with 22 seconds left.

But two Cody Yelder free-throws with 12 seconds left sealed the win for the Huskies.

Yelder, in his third game back from knee surgery, led all scorers and posted a career high with 20 points. The freshman guard was 6-of-8 from the field and a perfect 7-7 from the free-throw line.

“Cody was very good with the ball in his hands,” Judson said. “His decision-making ability and his ability to handle the ball in the open court is something our team really needed.”