For Mike Brown, Stephen Jones and Steve Determan, Wednesday night was their last hurrah in Huskie Red and White at the friendly confines of Chick Evans Field House.

The last home game marked Senior Night for the NIU basketball team, which meant the culmination of NIU’s three players’ careers as a Huskie. All the hard work, sweat and dedication they had contributed to NIU would come down to this one last night in DeKalb.

“I had some butterflies going into the game,” said Determan, who finished with 11 points.

The three seniors combined to score 33 of the Huskies 62 total points.

Scoring 9 first-half points on 4 of 7 shooting from the field, the 6-foot-9-inch Determan displayed a bevy of post moves the Broncos couldn’t stop.

“The nice thing about this season for me has been the emergence of Steve Determan,” said NIU interim head coach Andy Greer.

“The thing about Steve, even though he wasn’t playing a lot of minutes at the beginning of the season he was always a team guy, always encouraging other people and never really thought about himself. That is unique in this day and age, not enough teams have players like Steve Determan. I’m really happy for him.”

In the second half, it was the Stephen Jones show, where he scored 11 of his 13 points.

Included in Jones’ assault on Western Michigan was his steal from a WMU guard at 6:20 in the second half and length-of-the-floor sprint ending in an emphatic slam. Following that up several plays later with a two handed follow dunk of a missed shot, the Broncos’ coach Robert McCullum had seen all he wanted to of Jones.

“The best news I heard all night was that Stephen Jones is a senior,” said McCullum. “He’s just an outstanding athlete and his athleticism really hurt us.”

Greer feels that Jones’ coast-to-coast steal leading to his dunk was a typical play for the senior with the athleticism that he possesses.

Brown, a 6-foot-2-inch guard, had a quiet afternoon compared to the standard that he has set at NIU during his four-year career.

With 9 points in all 40 minutes of action, Greer feels Brown should be rewarded for a great season.

“I really truly believe that Mike Brown is an All-MAC player,” Greer said. “He’s had a great year. I really view a basketball game like going to war, with people having each others back, and I feel very comfortable going to war with Mike Brown.”

Not willing to let it sink in that this is the end of their career at home, the three seniors look forward to their MAC playoff games remaining.

“It’s not over yet,” said Determan. “I’m going to hold on to everything I’ve got left.”