The debut of head basketball coach Rob Judson at Northern Illinois University was met with much optimism at Chick Evans Field House on Tuesday night.

That optimism quickly faded as the Huskies (0-2) could manage only 17 first half points en route to a 70-50 loss to Valparaiso (3-2).

“We needed a lot better effort from our team,” Judson said. “We didn’t exhibit an effort that we want to represent Northern Illinois basketball. Everything begins with effort and we didn’t have that tonight.”

Valparaiso jumped out to an early lead behind the long distance shooting of Lubos Barton.

Barton hit his first two three-point attempts, giving the Crusaders a 10-2 lead just four minutes into the game.

Valparaiso then extended its lead to 18-5 after a pair of three-pointers by Milo Stovall.

Trailing by 13 points, the Huskies mounted a furious comeback to climb within five points.

After Stovall’s second three, NIU outscored Valparaiso 10-2. Mike Morrison hit a pair of free throws and Marcus Smallwood had a layup before Jamel Staten hit three straight baskets to make the score 20-15.

With seven minutes remaining in the first half, the Crusaders went on a 21-2 run putting the game out of reach.

“Lubos, Milo and Raitis [Grafs] got us off to a great start,” Valparaiso coach Homer Drew said. “The 10-2 run really set the tempo for the game.”

The first half stats told the story for the Huskies.

NIU was 7-24 from the field and committed 12 turnovers. The Huskies also were out-rebounded 16-13.

In the second half, the Huskies outscored the Crusaders 33-29, but it was too little too late as NIU eventually fell, 70-50.

After being held scoreless and shooting 0-4 from the field in the first half, senior captain Leon Rogers exploded for 16 points and 5 second-half rebounds. Playing with a sprained left wrist, Rogers still managed to lead the Huskies in scoring and rebounding for the second straight game.

The only other Huskie to score in double figures was freshman Jamel Staten with 10 points.

Staten shot 4-8 from the field including 2-4 from three-point range in 27 minutes of work.

The Crusaders zone forced 18 Huskie turnovers and forced NIU into 18-52 shooting on the night.

“Valpo is a very good team,” said Judson. “Their zone and press are pretty good and we had trouble with them.”