DEKALB, Ill. – SIUE men's basketball turned the ball over 18 times Wednesday night and trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half en route to a 65-54 loss to Northern Illinois at the NIU Convocation Center.

The Cougars trailed at the half for the fourth time in five games this season but, after coming back from a halftime deficit Saturday, were unable to pull off a second consecutive comeback.

"A lot of the problem was because we turned the basketball over," SIUE Head Coach Lennox Forrester said. "We didn't follow the game plan. It was a terrible first half."

SIUE, now 2-4, trailed 6-0 and 8-3 in the game's first three-plus minutes.

The Cougars used an 8-2 run to take their only lead at 11-10 following a layup by Michael Messer with 13:24 to play in the first half. A Kris Davis three-pointer made it 22-20 Northern Illinois with 7:19 left in the half but the Huskies ended the half with a 14-5 run to lead 36-25 at halftime.

Northern Illinois, now 2-5, shot 57.7 percent (15-26) during the first half.

"We gave up too many drives to the basket," Forrester added. "That can't happen."

SIUE started the second half much stronger and closed the gap to seven twice before the first media timeout.

Mike Davis connected on a three-pointer for the Huskies with 13:58 to play to push the NIU lead to 43-31, when the Cougars made a push. SIUE reeled off the next 10 points to cut the NIU lead to two at 43-41. Davis accounted for seven of the Cougars' points during the run with a three-pointer and four free throws. Derian Shaffer scored the other three points with a layup and a free throw. SIUE never was able to take the lead.

Davis finished with 16 points for the Cougars.  He was 4 for 10 from the field, including 3 for 7 from three-point range, while also hitting all five free throws he took. Jerome Jones led all scorers with 19 points. He was 7 for 13 from the floor, including 4 for 6 from long distance.

For the game, SIUE was 17 for 43 (39.5 percent) from the field. The Cougars connected on 9 of 20 three-point attempts but hit just 11 of 20 free throws.

"We just didn't finish around the basket," Forrester said. "And our free throws were terrible again."

Aksel Bolin led the way for Northern Illinois with a career-high 15 points. Sam Mader added 11 points for the Huskies. Travon Baker scored 10 points. The Huskies outrebounded SIUE 33-25.

SIUE will return to the road for a Saturday game at Western Illinois. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

"The good thing is: we've played Western Illinois before so there's nothing new," Forrester said. "We just have to make some tweaks here and there."