LAS VEGAS — Northern Illinois kept alive its impressive regular season and road win streaks Saturday, but not before UNLV made the Huskies sweat a little in the 100-degree desert heat at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Make that sweat a lot.

The host Rebels (1-2), who had scored two offensive touchdowns in their first 10 quarters of the season, exploded for four touchdowns in less than 16 minutes to tie the game in the fourth quarter, but sophomore quarterback Drew Hare answered with a 56-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Da’Ron Brown and safety Marlon Moore added a key interception in the end zone as the Huskies pulled out a 48-34 victory.

It was the 26th consecutive regular-season victory for Northern Illinois (3-0) and 17th straight win in an opponents’ stadium, the longest such streak in the FBS.

Hare, making his first college start, completed 18 of 28 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns and also rushed for 74 yards and another score on 14 carries.

“We thought it was going to be a 60-minute game,” Hare said. “We’re in the desert. We’re not used to this. But we prepared all week for it and were ready for a four-quarter game. We stepped up when we needed to.”

Four plays after UNLV had fought back to tie the game at 34-34, Hare hit Brown streaking up the left sideline for the game-winner. Brown reached back up and over UNLV corner Kenneth Penny to grab the ball at the 25 and without breaking stride cruised into the end zone.

“When you have Da’Ron Brown out there, the guy is as fast as they come,” Hare said. “I tried to put it up so he could make a play and he did just that. He does that a lot for us. He’s awesome.”

“We needed a big play and being a senior you have to step up,” Brown said. “I saw the ball in the air and I just focused.”

Senior tailback Cameron Stingily rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries, including a 2-yarder with 1:58 remaining that clinched the victory. The Huskies finished with 616 yards and 35 first downs.

Junior quarterback Blake Decker completed 24 of 42 passes for 397 yards and two touchdowns for UNLV. He also threw an interception.

Both TD passes went to senior wide receiver Devante Davis, who finished with six receptions for 150 yards.

“Obviously losing hurts,” Davis, who had the ninth 100-yard receiving game of his career, said. “We finished well but we’ve got to start better. … We had those plays in the first half but we just weren’t making them.”

With the aid of a safety when Northern Illinois tight end Desroy Maxwell was flagged for a chop block in the end zone, UNLV trailed just 7-5 entering the second quarter. But the Huskies pulled away with two impressive 80-yard drives capped by Hare touchdown passes.

The first was a 12-yarder to tailback Keith Harris that capped a 14-play drive. The second, which came after UNLV kicker Jonathan Leiva missed a 33-yard field goal attempt, was a 10-yarder to wide receiver Juwan Brescacin with 29 seconds left in the half.

Hare’s 12-yard run bumped the lead to 28-5 after NIU’s first drive of the second half. UNLV scored three touchdowns in the third — including passes of 26 and 53 yards to Davis — to cut the deficit to 31-26 entering the final quarter.

The Rebels then tied it at 34-34 on a 9-yard run by senior running back Shaquille Murray-Lawrence and a two-point conversion pass from Decker to Davis.

After Hare’s touchdown pass to Brown made it 41-34, the Rebels drove back down to the NIU 7-yard line where Moore tipped and then intercepted a pass intended for Davis in the left corner of the end zone.

“We executed better the second half,” UNLV coach Bobby Hauck said. “Certainly it’s not a 30-minute game and we need to play better in the first 30. We went into this thing thinking we were going to get them. The guys were really tuned in, focused on it. Our guys are disappointed, and so am I.”

Northern Illinois puts its win streaks on the line again next week when it travels to Arkansas, which upset Texas Tech 49-28 on Saturday.

“They’re an SEC team and it’s going to be a good challenge for us,” Hare said. “We’re going to be excited.”

NOTES: UNLV officials, upset that Northern Illinois wouldn’t move the game to Friday night for TV purposes, decided to schedule kickoff at 4 p.m. PT, which is normally the hottest time of the day. The temperature at kickoff was 100 degrees and only about 1,000 fans sat on the sun side of the stadium behind the Husky bench at the start. Northern Illinois officials said they did not keep records for the hottest temperature at kickoff for the team. … Northern Illinois last lost a true road game on Oct. 1, 2011, at Central Michigan 48-41 and hasn’t lost a regular season game since a 18-17 loss to Iowa on Sept. 1, 2012, at Soldier Field.