Assistant Sports Editor

The NIU men’s basketball team continued to struggle during the winter break, losing five out of six games.

Interim head coach Andy Greer got his first win as a Huskie coach after NIU defeated Buffalo 64-49 Jan. 6.

The Huskies face Eastern Michigan on Wednesday at Chick Evans Field House.

Ball State 85, NIU 59

Ball State handled the Huskies on Monday, winning 85-59.

The Cardinals held the Huskies to 29 points in the second half, while scoring 47.

Theron Smith led all scorers with 25 points, and Lonnie Smith added 17.

Leon Rodgers led NIU with 19 points, and Mike Brown scored 17. Stephen Jones, who was out the first semester because he was academically ineligible, played in his first game of the season, scoring 6 points and grabbing 4 rebounds.

Kent State 94, NIU 68

Kent State’s Kyrem Massey scored a career-high 28 points as the Golden Flashes defeated NIU 94-68.

Kent State led 49-33 at halftime and never looked back.

Al Sewasciuk and Rodgers led NIU with 14 points, and Matt Nelson added 13.

“You are going to have games like these,” said Greer. “My good friend Jeff Van Gundy said he has five or six a year with the New York Knicks like this. We had a bad game and have to wash it out of our minds.”

NIU 64, Buffalo 49

The Huskies broke a four-game losing streak after defeating Buffalo 64-49.

Brown led all scorers with 21 points, while Rodgers added 14. Sean Ezell scored 13 points and grabbed 7 boards.

Bowling Green 78, NIU 67

After leading 37-33 at halftime over Bowling Green, the Huskies fell apart in the second half, being outscored 45-30.

Rodgers led the team with 18 points and 10 boards, while Brown added 14. The Falcon’s Keith McCloud led all scorers with 22 points.

Fairfield 67, NIU 62

Rodgers continued his tear, scoring a game-high 21 points in the Huskies’ 67-62 loss over Fairfield.

Brown played his third game as the starting point guard and finished with 15 points.

DePaul 78, NIU 67

In Greer’s first game as the Huskies’ coach, NIU fell to DePaul 78-67.

After being down 17 points with seven minutes remaining, Rodgers scored 10 of the Huskies 12 points in a two-minute span to pull the Huskies within eight, but that was as close as NIU would get.

Bobby Simmons led all scorers with 35 points, a career-high. Leon Rodgers led the Huskies with 23 points.

“We had a chance to fold, and our kids kept battling,” said Greer, “Any time you play a team like DePaul, it’s a great opportunity for us. A program like ours cannot lose.”

diane kharnovich photo

Mike Morrison (34) slams it with authority against Rockford College.