It’s been three years since the NIU men’s basketball team has won four consecutive games.

That drought continues as Eastern Michigan captured a 75-61 win over the Huskies in Ypsilanti, Mich. Wednesday, snapping NIU’s three-game winning streak.

When NIU faced the Eagles Jan. 20, things were totally different as the Huskies posted a season-high 62.8 percent from the field. NIU (10-18 overall, 5-10 MAC) only shot 35 percent from the field and 24 percent from 3-point range in Wednesday’s loss.

“We just didn’t play with enough emotion,” said NIU head coach Ricardo Patton. “We certainly weren’t making shots, either. Sometimes when your shots aren’t falling, it hurts you on the defensive end as well.”

EMU (7-23, 5-10) hit 49 percent of its field goals and 64 percent of its 3-pointers. Sophomore Brandon Bowdry led the way for the Eagles with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Justin Dobbins also chipped in with 20 points and five rebounds on the night.

“[Brandon] Bowdry and [Justin] Dobbins played big for their team today,” Patton said. “They caused us problems all night, and when we did contain them, we left their perimeter guys open. Then they hurt us by knocking down big shots.”

Darion ‘Jake’ Anderson paced NIU with a game-high 24 points to go along with six rebounds. Freshman Mike DiNunno finished with 12 points along with six rebounds as well.

The Huskies have one final regular season game remaining on the road. NIU has experienced road woes all season and has not tallied a road win in conference play.

“Some of our road struggles can be attributed to youth and inexperience, but the other thing I believe we have lacked on the road is a general competitive fire,” Patton said. “Our other guys need to follow the lead of Jake Anderson, who doesn’t seem to have issues playing on the road.”

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