Hitting the road one day before Thanksgiving, the NIU men’s basketball team took an 86-80 decision from Maryland Eastern Shore on Wednesday.

Aided by senior Xavier Silas‘ 34-point showing, the Huskies (2-2) kept UMES at an arms’ length throughout the contest.

The Fighting Hawks’ Dishawn Bradshaw converted a three-point shot to close the NIU lead to five with one minute remaining in regulation. UMES (1-4), though, would prove unable to get any closer in a six-point loss.

Shooting 75 percent from the field, Silas sank four of his five three-point attempts. Late in the first half, Silas gave NIU its largest lead of the half when he sank his third straight three-point shot. Averaging 28.75 points a game, the Huskie shooting guard is now third in the nation in scoring after tying his career high set last Sunday against Cardinal Stritch.

“[Silas] played big, and we needed him to play big today,” said NIU head coach Ricardo Patton. “He was all over the floor on both ends. He did a nice job defensively, and we know he can score. They tried to double team him in the second half but he did a nice job.”

Breaking his streak of 38-straight converted free throws, Silas missed three of his nine attempts from the line Wednesday.

After being benched to start the game last Sunday against Cardinal Stritch, junior point guard Bryan Hall contributed seven assists and seven points Wednesday, while only turning the ball over once. As a team, the Huskies had a season-low 12 turnovers.

Netting a career-high 10 points with two blocks in 17 minutes, freshman Aksel Bolin got his first significant game action of the season. From the line, the Norwegian product sank all six of his free-throw attempts.

Junior college transfer Tim Toler shook off a sub-par game against Cardinal Stritch with a 15-point performance. Toler sank 7-of-13 field goal attempts in 29 minutes of action.

UMES head coach Frankie Allen thought the end result didn’t necessarily show how hard his team worked.

“I have to give credit to a good Northern Illinois team,” Allen said. “They had a good game plan and had consistent energy throughout the game. We came close numerous times, and we just couldn’t get over that hump and take the lead.”

The Huskies return home tonight for a 7 p.m. tilt with Boise State at the Convocation Center.