Starting the Winter Break, the NIU men’s basketball team lost four of its five games, but times have looked up lately for the Huskies.

Having started its three-game road streak with two MAC wins, the Huskies are looking to sweep the three-game stretch against Ohio on Wednesday.

The Huskies played seven games over Winter Break and went 3-4. Overall, NIU stands at 6-8 and 2-2 in the MAC.

USF 84, NIU 83 – Perry Smith scored a career-high 35 points, 23 in the second half, but it wasn’t enough as the Huskies’ trip south brought their record south.

NIU trailed by as many as 20 points, due in large part to a 27-6 run by the Bulls in the first half. To end the game, Anthony Maestranzi hoisted a half-court three pointer at the buzzer to make the final a one-point contest.

“It’s a 40-minute game,” NIU coach Rob Judson said. “It’s consistency over the course of time.”

NIU 72, ISU 65 – Todd Peterson scored a career-high 18 points on six three-pointers to help guide the Huskies to victory.

Despite shooting only 61 percent from the free-throw line, the Huskies did get 25 attempts in the second half, which helped preserve the victory.

“It was a great game and it was a great victory for us,” Judson said. “We haven’t played them for 20 years. I’m thankful for our effort. It was a real physical game. I thought our last 27 minutes at South Florida carried over for us today.”

UIC 77, NIU 45 – The Huskies shot 31 percent from the floor and were outrebounded by 20 as the Flames won in DeKalb for the first time since 1997-98.

Only Smith scored in double-digits for the Huskies with 14 points.

The 32-point loss was the worst home court defeat since 1989.

“I thought UIC played great,” Judson said. “Their effort showed. The board effort and field goal percentage defense, those are effort stats. Defensively they contested every shot and they beat us on the boards.”

EIU 90, NIU 75 – Despite four players in double figures, the Huskies couldn’t contain Henry Domercant.

Domercant scored 38 points and led an Eastern Illinois squad to 21 points off of 20 Huskie turnovers.

“We really had to overcome a lot of obstacles tonight; the big one being Henry Domercant,” Judson said. “Foul trouble. But it was too much Henry. We tried a box-and-one, man-to-man, switching. He had his way. That’s a credit to him and coach Samuels.”

Jamel Staten led the team with 14 points in 19 minutes.

NIU 63, BGSU 64 – In the first game of the new year, the Huskies lost a heart-breaker to the Falcons at the Convocation Center.

A lay-up by BGSU’s Cory Eyink with 6.5 seconds left spoiled a double-digit comeback attempt by the Huskies.

“It’s just as tough a loss as I’ve been around,” Judson said. “We fought extremely hard and competed.”

Marcus Smallwood had a team-high 18 points and was 10-of-12 from the free-throw line.

NIU 72, UT 65 – The Huskies won in Toledo for the first time in 19 years and shocked a UT team who just defeated No. 14 Michigan State in its previous game.

Senior Jay Bates scored a career-high 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor and added five rebounds and five assists.

NIU enjoyed the lead for all but the first 3:15 of the game.

“That was a tremendous victory,” Judson said. “To come back after that heart-breaking game vs. Bowling Green and against a team hotter than a firecracker. Just tremendous. You have to give the kids a lot of credit. They stuck together and worked tremendously hard.”

NIU 66, BSU 64 – Smith scored 29 points and added three steals as the Huskies evened up their conference record with a win at Ball State.

“What a ball club. What a game,” Judson said. “A terrific effort to come on the road and beat both Toledo and Ball State.”

Junior forward Smallwood finished with his fifth double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

NIU used a 22-9 run during an 11 minute stretch in the second half to hold off the Cardinals.