Mullins' defense slows down Northern Illinois

DEKALB - The first time Northern Illinois freshman Mike DiNunno touched the ball, he gained 185 pounds.

That's because Southern Illinois senior Bryan Mullins, the reigning Missouri Valley defensive player of the year, draped himself over DiNunno like a sweaty maroon suit.

"I grew up watching him in high school," DiNunno said. "So for me to play against him was more exciting than intimidating. I love playing against great competition.

"The fact that he was smothering me the whole game, I like things like that. It makes me work harder."

But the Huskies' hardest wasn't nearly good enough Wednesday night before a divided crowd of 2,970 at the Convo Center.

Mullins hounded other NIU guards as the game went along, in particular leading scorer Jake Anderson, but his intensity never wavered as SIU ran away midway through the second half for a 73-58 non-conference win.

Though Mullins limped around on painful shin splints, the Downers Grove South product led the Salukis (4-5) with 14 points, 5 assists and 4 steals.

DiNunno and Anderson combined to shoot 8 of 22 from the field and 2 of 9 from the free-throw line while commiting 7 turnovers and 2 assists.

"I think the way we play, it's frustrating for people," Mullins said. "People don't like to play us because of how physical we are and the defensive things we do.

"Sometimes during this season, we really haven't been that team that we're supposed to be. This game, we kind of imposed our toughness on them."

NIU coach Ricardo Patton warned his guys they hadn't played anything like SIU.

Actually, to be more specific, he wanted his guys to learn how to play like the Salukis.

"They hand-check, they hold," Patton said. "But each player does it, so it's very difficult for it to be called the entire night. It's a great way to play defense."

SIU barged out to an 18-4 lead as NIU (4-7) struggled to match the visitors' intensity, but the Huskies gradually warmed to the task.

NIU pulled within 48-41 on Michael Patton's 3-pointer with 14:51 to go. The Huskies then forced a turnover that sent SIU's Carlton Fay tumbling into the cheerleaders.

But rather than take advantage of the budding 5-on-4 situation, Patton pulled up from 25 feet in transition and launched an airball.

Ricardo Patton glared at his son - and SIU took it as a cue to put the game away.

The Salukis scored 14 points in a row - Fay hitting 7 of his 14 points during the run - and held the Huskies scoreless for 5 minutes, 59 seconds.