Northern Illinois sophomore center Marin Maric gave the Huskies a one-point lead over Akron on a layup with just more than six minutes left in the game.
Then the Zips got hot from deep.
The Zips made four 3-pointers down the stretch to pull away with a 76-66 win over the Huskies on Tuesday night in Akron.
"You want to come in here and give yourself a chance," Northern Illinois coach Mark Montgomery said. "The championship goes through Akron and thankfully we don't have to come back here. We were right there tonight. We just didn't make plays when we had to make them.