Men’s basketball closed its season-opening, five-game homestand by taking care of business and winning a game they should have in a convincing fashion.

The Huskies (2-3) posted a 111-61 thrashing of the Div. II St. Joseph’s (Ind.) Pumas (1-4) Sunday at the Convocation Center. They dominated the vast majority of the first half and held the Pumas to only 24 points in the second half.

The Huskies found themselves in a back-and-forth battle early on that featured seven leads changes in the first four-plus minutes. They trailed 17-15 at the first media timeout (15:13), as the Pumas nailed three three-pointers on seven attempts.

The Huskies got into their groove offensively after the first timeout and were simply too big and too strong for the Pumas.

“They’re athleticism just kind of took hold and stuff,” said St. Joseph’s (Ind.) head coach Tom Church. “We knew that was gonna happen. We’re a running team as it is. When we get out and run and we’re playing a team that’s as athletic and as big as NIU, we knew that was gonna happen. So, I think it was just one of those things where they were gonna run with us and their athleticism was gonna take over.”

The Huskies outscored the Pumas 44-20 to close out the first half and led 59-37 at the intermission.

“We did a great job of getting consecutive stops, and then we got opportunities to run,” said head coach Mark Montgomery. “Our defense was solid, and good defense led to some easy offense that really got us going in the first half.”

The Huskies continued the onslaught in the second half. They posted 52 points in the second half and helped the Pumas to only 24 points on 36.8 percent shooting (25-of-68) from the floor and 28.1 percent (9-of-32) from three-point range. The Pumas only got to the free-throw line three times and hit two of their three attempts.

NIU set season highs in field goal percentage (50.6 percent, 41-of-81), three-point field goal percentage (31.6 percent, 6-of-19) and free=throw percentage (71.9 percent, 23-of-32) in the blowout.

“It was a big confidence booster,” said sophomore guard J.J. Cravatta. “But I gotta give credit to the guards for getting out and running, and it’s a big help when you got bigs down low working because it frees a lot of things up when they have to double down.”

The Huskies made their presence felt inside, outrebounding the Pumas 67-22 and outscoring them 60-20 in points in the paint. They grabbed 31 offensive rebounds and muscled up 41 second chance points.

Sophomore wing player Darrell Bowie recorded his first career double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds, both game highs. Cravatta finished with 20 points, junior guard Aaron Armstead posted 13 points and freshman center Marin Maric added 12 points off the bench.

With the Huskies’ homestand over, they play five of their next six games on the road, looking to continue to improve while being tested on the road.

“I tell our team we can be as easy as undefeated or could be as easy as just one win,” Montgomery said. “I’m happy that when you look back to the other previous seasons, with four minutes to go, the game is up for grabs. A few made free throws, a few more defensive stops, our record’s a little better. It’s still early in the year. We’re just trying to get better every day in practice and hopefully carry that over into a game.”