Feb. 28, 2006

Northern Illinois Men's Hoops Upends DePaul, 77-68 DeKalb, IL - There was a challenge issued at halftime, and Northern Illinois University junior center James Hughes and his teammates met it head on.

NIU had been out-rebounded 20-14 by DePaul in the opening twenty minutes and Hughes had not recorded a single board.

Hughes responded in the final stanza, scoring 11 of his game-high 17 points including six rebounds to help the host Huskies to the 77-68 victory over the Blue Demons at the NIU Convocation Center on Monday night.

The roles were reversed in the second half, as the Huskies grabbed 19 boards to the Blue Demons' five.

"The key tonight was our rebounding in the second half," NIU head coach Rob Judson said. "DePaul had far too many offensive rebounds in the first half, and James and the rest of the team went to work in the second half."

The victory marked the first time in the series history that NIU has taken two consecutive contests from DePaul in their 28-game history dating back to 1924-25. Last season the Huskies captured the 84-69 win over the Blue Demons at the Allstate Arena on November 27, 2004.

For his efforts, Hughes was named the recipient of the Jay Goedert Memorial Award given to the game's most valuable player. Goedert, a former NIU and DePaul assistant men's basketball coach, passed away in July of 2004 at the age of 44.

With the victory, NIU improves to 2-1 on the season, while the Blue Demons fell to 1-2 overall.

NIU senior guard Anthony Maestranzi followed Hughes with 14 points, five assists and three steals, while teammates Todd Peterson (12 points) and Mike McKinney (10 points) each turned in solid efforts for the Huskies. Peterson missed his first free throw of the night, halting his consecutive free-throw streak at 32, tying him with Willie Hanson (1967).

Judson lauded his team's protection of the ball on Monday night, as the Huskies had assists on 20 of their 28 baskets and only seven turnovers.

"I thought it was great that we only had seven turnovers and we assisted on 20 of 28 of our baskets, which is a great percentage," Judson said. "When we're playing our best basketball, we have a high assist to turnover ratio."

DePaul junior guard Sammy Mejia topped with Blue Demons with 12 points, followed by Jabari Currie (11 points), Wilson Chandler (10 points) and Draelon Burns (10 points).

The game was a seesaw affair over the first 24 minutes that featured nine ties and nine lead changes with the Blue Demons holding a 37-34 advantage over the Huskies following a Cliff Clinkscales (5 points) jumper with 16:50 left in the second half.

From that point on, NIU went on a 9-0 run behind five points from Maestranzi to give the Huskies a 43-37 lead that they would not relinquish. DePaul fought back and tied the game at 62 following a three-pointer from Burns, but NIU countered with a 7-0 run behind a three-pointer from Peterson and two points apiece from Hughes and Maestranzi to put the game out of reach for the Blue Demons.

NIU will be back in action on Saturday evening, opening Mid-American Conference play in Ohio, as the Huskies will battle with Toledo at 6 p.m. (CST).

(For further information, please contact Matt Brendich) -NIU-