Head coach Jim Molinari and the Huskie basketball team look to recover from Saturday’s 71-64 road loss to Iona College tonight with a home-opening contest against Illinois Wesleyan at Chick Evans Field House.

Molinari, a graduate of IWU, made his head coaching debut at Iona in New Rochelle, N.Y., but the result of the contest did not please the NIU newcomer. He hopes to gain momentum in the 7 p.m. game with the Titans.

In the loss to Iona, the Huskies came on strong in the first half and took a 30-22 halftime advantage. However, some key injuries and foul trouble, along with the scoring force of Iona’s Sean Green, led to second-half woes. Green nailed 24 of his game-high 28 points in the second half.

For NIU, forward Donnell Thomas scored 25 points and collected four rebounds. Guard Donald Whiteside placed next in Huskie scoring with 17, while Andrew Wells led NIU with nine rebounds.

With the Huskies leading 52-51 and 6:06 left in the game, Iona’s Green iced a 3-pointer to give the Gaels the edge. The remainder of the scoring weighed in favor of Iona. Numerous Huskie fouls, coupled with exhaustion, enabled Iona to build a 71-61 lead with five seconds left. Whiteside capped the game with a 3-pointer at the horn. Whiteside, a graduate of Chicago’s Leo High School, was 2-for-3 from 3-point land and finished perfect from the line (7-7).

Antwon Harmon left the game early and had to receive three stiches in the forehead. He did, however, return to see some action in the second half. Wells suffered a concussion during the game and was taken to a local hospital.

NIU proved its first-half domination by controlling the lead the entire time. The Huskies shot 46 percent from the field in the first half compared to Iona’s 36 percent. In the second half, Iona shot 52 percent to gain the edge. NIU was also outrebounded by Iona 37-34.

From the free-throw line, NIU shot 74 percent compared to Iona’s 62 percent rate. However, Iona went to the line 37 times. The Huskies attempted 19 shots from the charity stripe, completing 14 of them.

For tonight’s game, Illinois Wesleyan leads the series with NIU 16-2, but the last time the two teams met was in 1950. IWU won that game 51-50.

The Titans finished the 1988-89 season 12-14 (7-9 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin).

Key players for the Titans in the 89-90 season are Jeff Kuehl and Mark Edmundson. Kuehl finished last year’s campaign averaging 25 points per game. Edmundson tallied 13.2 ppg.