After four years, Benjy Taylor returned to NIU.

Taylor, a former NIU assistant and the current head coach at North Central College, saw his new team lose 101-71 to his old team Wednesday night in front of about 1,000 people at the Convocation Center.

“I appreciate coach Taylor and North Central bringing their team out here,” said NIU coach Rob Judson after his team’s first exhibition game of the year. “I was impressed with their team. I think they will do well in their league.”

NIU senior guard Perry Smith led all scorers with 18 points. Smith scored six of NIU’s first 11 points as the Huskies took an 11-4 lead.

NIU stretched that lead to 49-27 by halftime behind 13 first-half points from Smith and 11 from forward Marcus Smallwood.

“We wanted to set the tone defensively,” Judson said. “We held them to 29-percent field goals in the first, but they finished at 40 percent. We have some work to do defensively.”

In the second half, many of the reserves saw time as all NIU players had at least 10 minutes of playing time.

Smallwood and Smith each played seven of the 20 minutes in the second half.

Sophomore Todd Peterson, who set the NIU freshman record for three-pointers last season, added four more against North Central and finished with 16 points.

Freshmen Paige Paulsen, Mike McKinney and Ryan Paradise each scored 11 points in their first action with NIU.

Paradise was 4-for-4 from the field and 3-for-3 from three-point range. Paradise, who played against three former teammates, also added two rebounds and two assists.

“I was just trying to make the most of my minutes,” Paradise said. “I was trying to be unselfish and do what Coach tells me.”