NIU’s Johnathan Byrd stood all alone at the free-throw line.

He glanced up toward the basket, gained his composure with a deep breath or two and smoothly drained both his shots for NIU’s first points – 5:07 into the game.

Even though the NIU men’s basketball team didn’t put many points on the board early, it did put up enough to knock off Akron 66-58 Saturday in the MAC opener for both teams.

The win was the first conference-opening win for NIU since 1996.

“I’m just really happy for this ball club,” said NIU coach Rob Judson, whose team won’t return to the Convocation Center until the Jan. 2 game against Western Michigan. “They’ve had a lot of adversity in a short stretch, so it’s good to get a win.”

Led by a career-high four three-pointers and 15 points from freshman Zach Pancratz, NIU was able to hit .391 percent of its three-pointers, while holding the MAC’s highest scoring team to 22 points under its average.

“We missed a few open shots that we made the other night,” Akron coach Keith Dambrot said. “That really was the difference in the game. They made more than we made.”

Despite not getting its first field goal until 14:11 left in the first half and turning the ball over 10 times, NIU still was able to go into the half up 30-26.

The second half allowed the Huskies’ bench to get into the action as well as the Convo Center crowd.

The bench ended up with a season-high 37 points, led by Pancratz and Todd Peterson who poured in 11 with three three-pointers.

Midway through the second half, whenever Akron stepped to the free-throw line, the NIU crowd made sure its shots were anything but comfortable.

When asked if the heckling fans affected the team, Dambrot and Romeo Travis just laughed to each other.

Dambrot, who used to coach Lebron James at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, said that any heckling from the crowd was nothing compared to that of the “Lebron James Tour” a few years ago. Travis, along with fellow Akron sophomore Dru Joyce, both played with James at St. Vincent-St. Mary.

“The only reason that Travis missed those free-throws is because he never makes them,” Dambrot said, smiling.