DeKALB | For the first 12 minutes of Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game, NIU looked like last year’s MAC West Champions.

But turnovers and offensive runs by the MAC East leading Akron doomed the Huskies (4-14 overall, 1-5 MAC) to their fifth loss 87-64. The team has now lost 14 of it’s last 15 games.

Up by seven after a Ryan Paradise jumper six minutes into the game, the Huskies looked poised for a home victory. Akron (14-4, 5-1) responded on a 9-2 run to tie the game at 23 with four minutes left.

NIU head coach Rob Judson said the beginning of the game was good basketball. The Huskies held the Akron offense with their zone defense early but key fundamental turnovers became the difference.

As if that run wasn’t enough, the Zips finished the first half with a 12-3 run, with senior forward Romeo Travis scoring six of the 12.

“It’s demoralizing to play like [NIU] did and cough it up at the end,” Akron head coach Keith Dambrot said.

Akron carried their first half momentum into the second with two three-pointers by senior guard Dru Joyce and one by sophomore forward Nate Linhart to go up 44-34. As a team, the Zips shot 61.8 percent from the field in the second half, which included nine three-pointers.

“They started the second half with two quick three’s,” Judson said. “The three-point shot is a great equalizer.”

The Zip’s offense proved to be too strong and went on yet another 19-4 run to go up 77-51 with under five minutes left. From there, Akron held off NIU’s offense to get the victory.

Leading the way the for Huskies was junior forward Zach Pancratz who had 14 points and seven rebounds. Senior center James Hughes and junior guard Ryan Paradise each added 10 points while freshman forward Bristan Kelley had 11 points off the bench.

Akron had three of its starters in double figures and two off the bench. Joyce lead all scorers with 18, Cedric Middleton added 15, Travis and Jeremiah Wood each had 12 and Linhart had 10.

“Team have runs,” junior forward Shaun Logan said. “We have to know that we can have those kinds of runs too.”