DeKALB | Behind 34 points from senior Xavier Silas, the NIU men’s basketball team blew out Cardinal Stritch 81-57 Sunday evening.

Coming off of two straight losses, NIU (1-2) welcomed the opportunity to play a NAIA team at home. After several early lead changes, the Huskies put some distance between themselves and the Wolves towards the end of the first half. NIU held a 48-35 lead at the break.

Throughout the first half, the Huskies stuck with a man-to-man defense. NIU would change to a 2-3 zone in the second half, but head coach Ricardo Patton planned on opening up in man defense to sharpen his team’s fundamentals.

“I thought we needed to come out with an aggressive mentality and man up,” Patton said. “Even though we’ve played a lot of zone defense, you still have to be fundamentally sound in guarding an individual.”

In 24 minutes of action Sunday, Silas shot 11-of-17 from the field while going 6-for-9 from behind the arc. The senior guard also sank all six of his free-throw attempts.

Cardinal Stritch (2-4) head coach Drew Diener showed a multitude of defensive looks to Silas Sunday evening, but the senior stayed hot through them all.

“We threw the kitchen sink at him,” Diener said.

“Obviously we tried man, he was good coming off screens, then we tried a box-and-one for probably 12 possessions.

Tried some zone. And he shot threw them all. I don’t know, maybe this game will help his draft status.”

After starting Bryan Hall in the team’s first two games at point guard, Patton opted to start Kyree Jones Sunday. Coming off the bench, Hall had six points to go along with five assists and two steals.

“Oh, I thought I should have started [Hall],” Patton said with a laugh. “He’s just a guy that it doesn’t matter whether he starts or he comes off the bench he’s going to give you everything he’s got.”

NIU limited its number of turnovers Sunday, giving the ball up 13 times which was a vast improvement compared to the 19 and 20 turnover output from the Huskies in their first two games, respectively. Responsible for five of the teams turnovers, junior forward Tim Toler’s starting job could be in jeopardy.

“Tim Toler had 5 of our 13 turnovers, we certainly can clean that up even if it means getting him out of the game,” Patton said. “But when your primary ball handlers are taking care of the ball you got a chance to do well in that category.”

The Huskies don’t have much time to enjoy a win as they’ll head east Wednesday to take on Maryland Eastern Shore in a noon contest.