DES MOINES, Iowa | A trip to Iowa for the Drake Regency Challenge Classic proved to be unsuccessful for the NIU men’s basketball team, as the Huskies left the tournament in fourth place out of four teams.

NIU (3-4) opened the weekend with a 72-70 loss against Georgia Southern (5-3). NIU center James Hughes posted a career high of 27 points. But, Hughes points couldn’t make up for 28 turn overs that were committed by the Huskies.

Despite being down by 14 points in the first half, NIU rallied back with a last chance effort to win the game.

With six seconds left in the game, NIU guard Quintan Lipkins stole the ball and moved it to NIU forward Ben Rand for a final shot. Rand shot off a desperation three which failed to go through the net.

The Huskies went on to play against Troy (5-5) on Saturday night, as the Trojans lost to host Drake on Friday night.

Once again NIU found itself down by a large margin at the half, as Troy held a 50-36 lead. The Trojans would extend the 14 point lead to 19 points early in the second half.

Down 70-51 with 13:06 remaining, NIU went on a 28-10 run.

NIU guard Mike McKinney came off the bench to help erase the deficit. The senior posted 13 points, four rebounds, and a steal just in the second half. For the game McKinney had a team high of 19 points.

Lipkins also helped in the come back as he added eight points during the run.

Down by one point with 1:44 left the Huskies looked to pull out a victory. But, Troy scored on their next possession, pushing the lead back to three.

NIU turned the ball over shortly thereafter. The Huskies were then forced to foul Troy, sending them to the line. The Trojans missed the first shot of a 1-and-1 situation, but got the rebound. NIU was forced to foul again, and this time ran out of time to pull off a victory.