CARBONDALE - Southern Illinois University's men's basketball team rolled in the new with the old to pull away from California (Pa.) in the first round of the 2K Sports Classic Tuesday night.

Point guards Kevin Dillard and Bryan Mullins combined for 16 points, 17 assists, eight steals, and a little showtime at SIU Arena to help the Salukis top California 66-52 in front of 7,376 fans. Dillard, one of five freshmen to play in SIU's season opener, found Carbondale High School grad Nick Evans on a behind-the-back pass in transition that got the crowd back into the game with 5:33 to play. Mullins, the senior point guard that started his 98th career game, added to the momentum with a mid-air steal that resulted in a Wesley Clemmons three-point play at the other end 15 seconds later.

"They had 17 assists between 'em. That just goes to show you if the big guys would just do what we tell 'em to, good things will happen," SIU coach Chris Lowery said. "Once Bryan got going, he got going with Carlton (Fay), two-man game stuff, Kevin delivering, Kevin delivering to Bryan… Once we put Kevin in in the second half, we got it going."

SIU (1-0) advanced to meet Massachusetts (1-0) tonight at 7:05 for the Carbondale Regional championship. The winner will advance to the semifinals of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at Madison Square Garden in New York City Nov. 20.

The Minutemen advanced to tonight's regional final with a 90-71 win over Division II Arkansas-Monticello.

SIU trailed by as much as eight in the opening half before pulling away from the Division II Vulcans in the final six minutes. Some familiar faces led the charge, as Fay scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in his first career start. Clemmons scored 10 more, putting the Salukis up 58-43 with 5:18 to play.

SIU won the rebounding battle 45-30 and handed out 20 assists to the Vulcans' six. Lowery looked at his team's 19 turnovers as still too high, but was willing to live with it, considering six of the 11 guys he sent to the floor had never played an official game in a Saluki uniform.

"Wes and Bryan got us going with their energy and enthusiasm," Lowery said. "Kevin came in right away with some phenomenal passes, and some solid defense, and just playing. We gotta learn how to do the basic things. Not running through passing lanes. Being solid on our defense, because we forced them into 22 turnovers and six assists. We made them play 1-on-1, which is what we do."

Dillard, the first Mr. Basketball of Illinois to ever sign with SIU, had nine points, nine assists, a rebound and four steals in 28 minutes.

"I wanted to come off the bench and be a spark for the team," Dillard said. "I just wanted to do whatever it took to get us a win."

Evans made his case for some minutes against Massachusetts tonight, hitting 3 of 5 field goals and grabbing five rebounds in 16 minutes.

"I just tried to kick the level up a notch when I came in," Evans said.

By playing all 11 guys, Lowery got all of his players some much-needed experience, while still pushing all of them for production. When Tony Boyle started slow, in came freshman Anthony Booker and junior Christian Cornelius. Booker scored seven points to go with four boards in his 14 minutes. Cornelius, looking fluid after sitting out most of the last two seasons with a knee injury, put up four points and five boards in 13 minutes.

Mullins played 34 minutes, and said he might have to get used to a few different lineups as the Salukis' depth both new and old develops this season.

"Some guys didn't play as much as they're used to, and they'll have a chance to step up (tonight)," he said. "We had a lot of different lineups today, and there may be different ones that work in (tonight's) game."

todd.hefferman@thesouthern.com / 351-5087