The Associated Press

DeKalb, Ill. - The Miami RedHawks saw their three-game winning streak snapped Wednesday night with a 62-54 loss to Northern Illinois in a Mid-American Conference game here.

The RedHawks trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half and cut the lead to one with 3:54 left.

But Northern Illinois executed an alley-oop dunk to James Hughes with 3:38 to go and the RedHawks never got so close again.

"This is a pretty good team when it's playing well," Miami coach Charlie Coles said of NIU, 8-18, 3-12 in the MAC. "We got back into it a little bit, but that alley-oop to James killed us."

The loss dropped Miami to 15-9, 10-5 in the MAC. But the RedHawks held onto the final bye position for the MAC tournament when Toledo lost to Bowling Green 79-76. The Rockets are 10-6 in the MAC.

"This is a hurting loss because it puts us back in limbo (in the MAC)," Coles said.

Miami's Chet Mason had his sixth double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Juby Johnson also scored 15 points.

Marcus Smallwood was the main man for NIU, scoring 20 points and pulling down 12 rebounds, both game-highs.

Miami returns home for a 4 p.m. game with Buffalo Saturday. Buffalo upset MAC East leader Kent State 82-66 Wednesday.