There were five NBA scouts in the stands Wednesday when Northern Illinois hosted Akron in men’s basketball at the Convocation Center in DeKalb. They were there to see No. 13 in white, and they definitely got an eyeful.

Shooting guard Xavier Silas, standing 6-foot-5, has the size, quickness and ball-handling ability to play at the next level – but it is his ability to shoot the basketball that makes him stand out as one of the most NBA-ready players in the country. And in the Huskies 83-74 win over the Zips, his deadly touch from everywhere on the floor was on full display.

Silas, son of former ABA and NBA all-star James Silas, lit Akron up for 39 points (one off his career high) by knocking down 9-of-17 from the floor, including 5-of-9 from 3-point range and 16-of-20 from the free-throw line. He also grabbed eight rebounds as NIU improved to 7-11 overall and leveled its Mid-American Conference record at 3-3.

It has been a breakout season for Silas, who currently sits third in the nation in points per game at 24.4 (behind BYU’s Jimmer Fredette at 26.7 and UConn’s Kemba Walker at 25.0). He has scored 25 points or more in a game nine times, including a career-high 40 at Illinois-Chicago. He also has games of 39, 34 (three times) and 31.

He leads the MAC in scoring with that 24.4 average, and also is listed among the leaders in these categories: field goal percentage (10^th at 48.6), free throw percentage (2^nd at 85.8), 3-point percentage (3^rd at 44.6) and total 3-pointers (5^th with 41).

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While watching the Bowling Green-Toledo game on SportsTime Ohio I was stunned by this statistic given by STO broadcaster Michael Reghi - Toledo is currently mired in a 41-game losing streak on the road.

This blew my mind because, despite their poor records last season and thus far this campaign, the Rockets are not a horrible basketball team.

The last time Toledo has won away from Savage Arena was when they topped West Georgia, 77-62, in Miami, Fla. during the O’Reilly Auto Parts College Basketball Tournament on Nov. 26, 2008. The last time the Rockets won an actual road game came on Jan. 16, 2008 when they traveled to DeKalb and claimed a 65-61 victory over Northern Illinois.

This streak of road losses is inexplicable. During the streak they have suffered losses in Baltimore against UM-Baltimore County, Dayton against Wright State, Chicago against the UIC Flames twice, Youngstown against Youngstown State and Fort Wayne, Ind. against IPFW. You would think they could have stolen at least one of these games because there are some real bottom-feeders in there.

With their 70-64 home loss to Bowling Green yesterday the Rockets have now lost seven of eight games, but there is a glimmer of home emerging. Malcolm Griffin, a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard, has emerged as the kind of player that can take over a game and almost single-handedly lead a team to victory. His last four games have turned plenty of heads.

It started with a 31-point, 4 rebound, 4 assist and 1 steal effort against Northern Illinois. He then dropped 22 points with 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals on Western Michigan in UT’s lone conference win this season. That was followed up by a 25-point, 5 rebound, 3 assist game against Ball State before, last night against BG, Griffin scored 25 points with 3 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal. During this explosive four-game stretch Griffin has shot 39-of-74 from the floor (52.7%) and 10-of-20 (50%) from beyond the 3-point line.

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The Buffalo Bulls have made an early statement in the MAC East. And, if coach Reggie Witherspoon’s team keeps playing like it has over its last three games, the rest of the conference could be in for trouble.

Buffalo didn’t start its conference schedule the way it would have liked to…losing its first two games. But now the Bulls are riding a three-game winning streak that has them sitting atop the East standings, tied with Bowling Green at 3-2 in the conference.

It is quite simple to figure out why Buffalo has turned things around. The trio of Byron Mulkey, Mitchell Watt and Zach Filzen have taken control of the Bulls on the court on both ends of the floor, and their teammates have played the most aggressive basketball the MAC has seen this season.

In this three-game stretch (a 73-70 home win over Akron, a 79-54 home blowout over Kent and a 73-70 road win over Ohio) the Bulls have out-rebounded their opponents 102-83. They have shot a blistering 50.3 percent from the field (76-151) while holding their opponents to 43.5 percent from the floor (68-156). They have also been exceptional from the 3-point line, hitting 45 percent (23-51) to their opponents 39.5 percent (19-48).

Mulkey has been unconscious from 3-point range, hitting 5-of-6 against Akron, 5-of-7 against Kent and 2-of-5 against Ohio for a combined percentage of 66.6 in the three games. He scored a career-high 27 points against Kent.

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During the lean years prior to the basketball renaissance at Kent State, shooting guard Nate Reinking was pretty much all Golden Flashes fans had to cheer about night after night.

The 6-foot product of Galion High School was one of the top perimeter shooters in Kent history, and with 1,456 career points ended up seventh on the all-time KSU scoring list.

Kent hovered around the .500 mark during Reinking’s four seasons at the school, and he was selected to the Honorable Mention All-MAC team in 1994 and to the All-MAC Second Team in 1996. When his playing days were over at Kent, following the 1996 season, Reinking went to a few camps and NBA try-outs, but he could not hook on with an NBA team.

So Reinking did what many other Division I college players with no prospects to play in the States do – he headed to Europe.

He first signed with the Leicester Riders of the British Basketball League and averaged 18.3 points per game in two seasons there. He then moved on to the Derby Storm for a year, scoring 17.9 ppg, before finding a home with the Sheffield Sharks in 1999.

Reinking starred in his six seasons for the Sharks before moving on to the Euphony Bree and Dexia Mons-Hainaut of the Belgain League for six seasons.

He ended up coming back to the British Basketball League, signing with the Mersey Tigers in 2008. Reinking could have retired, but he felt he had unfinished business. Since he had played in Great Britain for so long he qualified to play for the National Team, and he has Olympic aspirations. Reinking played for the Great Britain National Team in Eurobasket 2009 and is hoping to be selected for the 2012 Olympic Team. So now, at 37, he is the oldest player in the British Basketball League and is still chasing his dream.

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