DeKALB, Ill. – Guards Kaleb Thornton (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS), Keshawn Williams (Chicago Heights, Ill./Bloom HS) and Trendon Hankerson (Novi, Mich./Novi HS) scored in double figures and the Northern Illinois University Huskies outscored St. Francis (Illinois) by 22 points in the second half to earn a 80-57 exhibition victory over the Fighting Saints Saturday at the NIU Convocation Center.
 
New NIU head coach Rashon Burno liked the way his team looked in the second half after starting out slowly.
 
"I expected us to come out a little bit nervous and you could tell the guys had a little bit of jitters," Burno said. "In the second half, we played more our style of basketball, the ball went in a little bit more, played with a little bit more aggression and we executed a lot better in the second half than we did in the first and were able to wear them down. I'm excited for the guys and happy for them. It feels good."
 
NIU built a 13-5 lead in the first seven minutes of the game before St. Francis scored eight straight points on a pair of three-point shots, a layup and a fast break dunk by E.J. Charles to take a 15-13 lead. The teams traded baskets until a Hankerson three-pointer put the Huskies back on top at the 6:27 mark of the first half. Two Hankerson free throws after a steal extended NIU's lead to 26-20, and Thornton had a steal and a layup off a fast break to extend the lead to seven at 29-22 with 3:22 left in the half.
 
St. Francis came back to score the next seven points to force the fourth tie of the first half at 29-29 and led 30-29 on two Reihana Maxwell-Topiar free throws before a Kingsley Okanu (Lynwood, Ill./Bowman Academy) dunk off a Hankerson assist gave the Huskies a 31-30 halftime lead.
 
NIU committed seven of its 11 turnovers in the first half while shooting at a 40 percent clip (10-of-25), but  were tied with USF with 17 rebounds. Hankerson scored eight points and Thornton seven in the first half.
 
The Huskies scored the first seven points of the second half – six by Thornton - and did not look back. After Okanu got an offensive rebound and was fouled on the put back, his free throw gave NIU a 41-31 lead with 15:48 to play. Zool Kueth (Gallatin, Tenn./Gallatin/Pratt CC) made the first of his two three-pointers on the day to give NIU a 48-36 lead and extend the run to 17-6 to start the second half.
 
"In the second half, we didn't do anything schematically different, just told these guys to trust each other, relax and play," Burno said. "Our guards have to orchestrate the offense so these guys [Thornton and Williams] did a phenomenal job in the second half in regards to getting us in and out of our offense and keeping the game at a good pace.  I was harder on those guys going into the second half, they made the adjustments and got us going."
 
USF closed the gap to nine points, 52-43, on a layup by Darius Wright with 11:16 on the clock, the last time the Huskies held less than a double-digit margin. NIU answered with a 12-2 run to lead 64-45 with 7:46 to play and allowed the Saints just one more field goal in the next five minutes while taking a 75-47 lead.
 
Williams scored nine of his 14 points in the second half as the Huskies increased their shooting percentage to 56.7 percent (17-of-30) while holding USF to 7-of-24 shooting from the field in the half.

Hankerson added a team-leading five assists and three steals, and pulled down five rebounds, while Anthony Crump led all players with nine rebounds. Ten different players scored for the Huskies with Kueth and Adong Makuoi each scoring nine points.
 
NIU will not return to the Convocation Center until Tuesday, December 1 when the Huskies will take on Eastern Illinois. NIU opens the season on Tuesday, November 9 at Washington and will also play at Indiana, at Missouri and at Marquette in November, in addition to playing a pair of games at the Jacksonville Classic.
 
Season tickets for the 2021-22 men's basketball season are on sale now at NIUHuskies.com/MyHuskies or by calling 815-753-PACK (7225).
 
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