With five minutes left in Tuesday’s basketball game, a referee zipped a white towel into the face of Haskell Indian Nations University’s Kenny Lovato.

Any other night the towel might have been a signal for the Fightin’ Indians to give up. Haskell — which came in with a 1-22 record — could have folded when it faced a 20-point deficit in the second half.

But something was different.

The Coffin Sports Complex’s crowd of a few hundred was rocking — even doing the wave.

The Indians rewarded their fans with a rare sweep at home when Haskell’s men defeated Central Christian College of McPherson, 100-91, and the women beat the Tigers, 73-59.

Both teams trailed at halftime.

“It’s fantastic,” said an elated Lovato, who scored 17 points, including the go-ahead basket off a drive with 3:43 left. “I really don’t know what to say because it’s been so long since we’ve won.”

Indeed, not since early November had Haskell’s men’s team been victorious. And it has been even longer since both teams pulled the feat at home on the same night.

“It feels fantastic,” said men’s coach Melvin Imotichey, whose team was playing without leading scorer Andy Deal — who broke his shooting hand last week and is done for the season.

“It’s been really tough to keep these guys’ heads up and to keep working hard. But we stayed with it tonight, and they kept battling right until the end.”

That’s because they had to. The Indians’ first three possessions resulted in turnovers, partially because point guard Danny Polk had trouble seeing through the face mask that was protecting his recently broken nose.

After trailing briefly, 7-6, the Tigers got hot from the field. Behind a 48-percent shooting effort, Central Christian began to pull away.

But with less than a minute before half, Haskell cut the deficit to 49-41.

That was before Tiger guard Brandon Burris, who scored 18 points, tallied a three-pointer and connected on a pump-fake jumper just before the buzzer to put his team back up by 13.

“We really could have given up,” said Lovato, one of four Indians in double figures.

Haskell didn’t.

Not even minutes later when it was down 20.

The Indians outscored Central Christian 59-37 in the second half and hit 31 of 46 free throws.

Down 71-70 after a pair of free throws from HINU’s Marcus Oliveria, Haskell took a lead on Corey Ladson’s drive to goal.

Ladson, who was medically cleared to play three games ago after suffering from heart murmurs early in the season, scored 18.

Central Christian reclaimed the lead, but with less than four minutes left, back-to-back drives by Lovato gave the Indians the advantage for good.

Just to make sure, Polk, who tied for team-high honors with 19 points along with Oliveria, nailed a three and David Trusty slammed home a dunk in the final seconds for the century mark.

Things weren’t quite as exciting for Haskell’s women, but the win was just as needed.

The Indians hadn’t won since mid-January, and coach Phil Homeratha knew that his injury-depleted squad would need a big night from its big three.

Melissa Catron, Melissa Mossett and Kateri Schaaf provided the foundation, scoring 55 combined points.

But it was transfer Jeannine Moses, playing in just her fifth game, that provided the lift.

Moses, who transferred from Clackamas College in Oregon City, Ore., added 14, including a 4-of-5 effort from three-point range.

“I knew I was going to,” Moses quipped. “I told Kateri I was feeling it tonight.”

So apparently was Haskell, as the women improved to 7-14.

“We really needed this,” Homeratha said.