It could have been a game decided by three points for NIU. Instead, the Huskies lost 88-68 against No. 21 Southern Illinois on Saturday night.

NIU (0-4) didn’t score its first points until 10:04 remained in the first half. At that moment, Huskie guard Ryan Paradise drove the basket, producing a layup that finally put NIU on the board.

By that point, SIU (1-0) had already scored 17 points. The Salukis held a positive margin of 15 points halfway through the first half.

“You can’t spot any team, especially a good team like this, 17 points to start the game,” said Ricardo Patton, NIU men’s basketball coach. “You’ve got to make shots. We had too many guys that didn’t make shots.”

In the first half, NIU’s offense starved, as it only made 4 of 24 field goals. The Huskies improved in the second half to shoot 45.9 percent from the field, a vast improvement from 16.7 percent in the first half.

The effort wasn’t good enough to beat a Saluki team that shot an overall 50 percent from the floor and beat NIU in rebounding, assists and turnovers.

SIU showed why it is a top-25 team as it held a 63-32 advantage over NIU at one point during the second half. With such a large lead, the Salukis took out their starters.

The Huskies then put together a 31-17 run against the bench players. With time dwindling, the Salukis held an 80-63 lead – the original 17-point margin from the first half.

SIU had three players reach double-digits as forward Matt Shaw and guard Bryan Mullins both led the Salukis with 16 points.

NIU had two players reach double-digits, as guards Jarvis Nichols and Jake Anderson posted 18 and 14 points, respectively. Nichols was the only NIU player to shoot above 50 percent from the floor of those who had more than three attempts.

“I think the guys are just a little bit antsy,” Anderson said. “We had an opportunity to knock off a top team. The guys were just thinking too much.”