DEKALB, Ill. – Trailing by one in the final seconds, the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team had a pair of shots to win the game, but neither would fall as the Huskies dropped an 85-84 decision to Green Bay on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 21) at the NIU Convocation Center. 

Senior guard Eugene German (Gary, Ind./21st Century Charter) scored a team-high 21 points to go along with six assists, sophomore guard Trendon Hankerson (Novi, Mich./Novi) had a career-best 18 points with a with a career-high five assists and three steals while senior Lacey James (Grand Rapids, Mich./Rider) had 12 points. 

"It was an unbelievable game of runs," said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. "We started up 18-10, then they went on a run … I thought we outplayed them in the first half, but we were down two (at halftime). The three-point shooting from their stretch-five man hurt us. I was an offensive game … with their style, they were shooting too good. I liked that when we got down 11 we didn't blink, we got right back in the game and gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game."

Green Bay (5-8) shot 47.6 percent (30-of-63) from the field in the contest, including 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from three-point range, while NIU shot 47.8 percent (32-of-67), including 48 percent (12-of-25) from beyond the arc. 

NIU (7-6) raced out to an 18-10 lead in the opening five minutes of the contest as the Huskies made eight of their first 11 field goal attempts. Hankerson scored eight, including a pair of triples, in the early going while German added a half-dozen. 

A triple from junior Zaire Mateen (Queens, N.Y./Laramie County Community College) pushed the NIU advantage to 21-10 but Green Bay responded with a 16-5 run to even the contest at 26 with 8:48 to play before the break. 

Freshman Tyler Cochran (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) then made a free throw to start an 8-2 NIU burst to push the Huskies back in front by a half-dozen. Sophomore Darius Beane (Carbondale, Ill./Southern Illinois) scored the next five in the run and junior Chris Johnson (Chicago, Ill./South Suburban College) finished at the rim as the Huskies took a 34-28 lead with 6:36 left in the first half. 

James knocked in a triple with 3:41 to play before the break that gave NIU an eight-point lead before Green Bay closed the half with a 10-0 run to give the Phoenix a 44-42 lead at the intermission. 

German opened the scoring in the second half with a triple, but Green Bay then used a 11-2 run to take a 55-47 lead with 17:21 left, forcing a NIU timeout. 

After the timeout, another triple for the Phoenix, their ninth of the game, pushed the Green Bay lead to double figures, 58-47. 

Green Bay's lead was 65-55 when NIU used an 8-0 run to get back within a pair. Mateen made a trifecta to start the run, Beane added a layup and German converted an old-fashioned three-point play as the Huskies cut the Phoenix lead to 65-63 with 11:55 to go.  

Beane finished with nine points, a career-high nine rebounds, three steals and two assists. 

The Phoenix used a 7-0 burst to extend their lead to 77-68 with 8:53 left but NIU answered with the next six, three from German and three from Cochran, to pull back within three as the clock ticked under seven minutes to play. 

Trailing with seven, 83-76, with just over four minutes to play, Hankerson converted an old-fashioned three-point play and made a layup to close the gap to just a pair, 83-81, with 3:39 left. 

Both teams then went cold as the Huskies and Phoenix were both scoreless for over two minutes until a tip-in from Amari Davis gave Green Bay a four-point lead with 1:07 remaining. 

A Hankerson triple on the next possession brought the Huskies within one with 53 ticks remaining. Green Bay missed a shot but grabbed an offensive rebound and, with the shot clock off, the Huskies were forced to foul. 

The Phoenix missed the front end of a one-and-one, giving NIU one more chance with 20 seconds to play. The Huskies got a pair of looks but couldn't get either to fall as Green Bay escaped with the 85-84 victory. 

JayQuan McCloud scored a game-high 32 points for the Phoenix, Manny Patterson added 15 points and Cody Schwartz chipped in 11 points. 

NIU will return to action in two weeks when the Huskies open Mid-American Conference play at Buffalo on Saturday, January 4. Tipoff against the Bulls is scheduled for 1 p.m.