Leon Rodgers’ eclipsing the career 1,000-point mark wasn’t enough to lift the NIU men’s basketball team over Marshall, as the Huskies fell 81-65 Thursday night against the Thundering Herd in Huntington, W.Va.

Tallying 16 points, the 6-foot-6-inch junior was the high scorer for NIU (4-20 overall, 3-12 Mid-American Conference) while pulling down 7 rebounds.

“Leon has been doing it for three years here,” NIU interim coach Andy Greer said. “He’s a scorer. He can score inside and outside. He’s a special player for us.”

The fact that NIU held Marshall’s NBA-bound shooting guard, 6-foot-8 Tamar Slay, below his 18 ppg average was a good sign. But the rest of the Herd (16-8, 10-6 MAC) picked up the slack.

With its entire starting lineup in double figures, Marshall dished out a balanced scoring attack that proved too much for the Huskies. Leading the way was 6-foot-10 wide-body J.R. VanHoose, another player who has NBA scouts watching his every move.

Racking up his 31st game in double figures, VanHoose accumulated his 17th double-double for the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

With the Huskies on a 19-game losing streak in away games and 0-13 for this year in road contests, their free-throw shooting — a Shaq-esque 55 percent for the game — didn’t help. NIU turned in 57 percent from 3-point range in the first half, but sank to 17 percent in the second.

One player showing great promise for the Huskies, however, was their 6-foot-6 freshman forward Marcus Smallwood. In only 21 minutes of action, the wiry Smallwood accumulated 11 points, all in the second half, and 6 rebounds while garnering NIU’s only two blocked shots of the game.

“Marcus was really playing great in the second half,” Greer said.

In 14 minutes of play, freshman Al Sewasciuk hit for 8 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 from the 3-point stripe. NIU center Matt Nelson tallied 8 points and 10 rebounds.