The Mikes were on full-power Saturday night at Rec Hall.

Not the microphones, but the men's gymnastics team's Mike Masucci and Mike Reichenbach blasted as the Lions overpowered Northern Illinois, 275.60-270.45.

Masucci won his first all-around competition of the season with a 56.00. The freshman scored in the nines on every event, finishing second on the floor exercise (9.45), second on the pommel horse (9.55) and second on vault (9.3). For his efforts, Masucci was honored with the Gene Wettstone Award, presented to the gymnast who performs the most inspiring routines of the evening.

"I finally hit six routines," Masucci said. "Right now I'm pretty glad. I was due for six for six. That was my ultimate goal -- to hit a 56. Now I have to work my way up from that."

Before Saturday night's meet, Masucci's all-around high score was a 55.35. Now that he's reached a 56, he said the next step is to increase the level of difficulty in his routines so that his score will increase again.

"Right now I was just putting together routines I knew I could hit," he said. "Now I have to make them tougher."

Reichenbach, who suffered an ankle injury in a fall invitational, worked four events for the Lions. Performing for the first time this season the sophomore managed an 8.85 on floor exercise -- ninth place.

But in the other three events that he competed, Reichenbach took second place honors. He earned a 9.45 on rings, a 9.3 on vault and a 9.2 on parallel bars.

"He hasn't been consistent on parallel bars for us, and he finally showed through on that event," team captain Mark Sohn said. "And the other events, he was as good and as consistent as we always knew he would be. It was a great meet for him."

Sohn had a typical, ordinary night. The two-time NCAA pommel horse champion scored a 9.9 in that event. It was his second 9.9 in just four meets this year.

One of the four judges rewarded Sohn with a 10, but the other three judges recorded a 9.9. To determine the final score, the highest and lowest of the four scores are not counted, and the remaining two averaged. Consequently, the 10 was discarded.

"It felt great, the routine flowed really well," Sohn said. "I never go out there expecting a 10. I leave that up to the judges, the coaches and the fans to worry about. I have to play with my own mind to go out there and hit the routine the best I possibly can. I think I did that tonight."

After his routine, the packed Rec Hall crowd awarded Sohn with a long round of applause until the junior came out to take a bow.

"He missed the one-tenth because when he got to the scissors, they looked a little bit rough on the one side -- his left side which is a little bit harder for him," Coach Karl Schier said. "He bent one knee just a little bit.

"That was a great set. If I had been judging I would've given him a 10."

This was the highest score of the season for the team -- two weeks ago, it recorded a 274.45. The Lions also swept the all-around.

Despite some tough routines, sophomore Wayne Cowden finished behind Masucci with a 55.20. He finished first on rings (9.6) and high bar (9.5).

Sophomore Jamie Downer claimed third place with a 53.70. His best performance came on the floor exercise where he scored a 9.4 for third place.

"I thought it was a solid team hit all the way," Schier said. "I didn't see any major problems. Our parallel bars were better. We need that.

To count this meet as a qualifying score for Eastern Regionals, the Lions worked with only a nine-man lineup. Schier said that with more men, the score could have been higher, but thought the 275.60 was a good score to count.

This Saturday the Lions will take on perennial rival Ohio State. To date, the Buckeyes have scored as high as 279.

"Right now I feel we're a little behind (Ohio State)," Sohn said. "But we're going to be putting in a lot of work this week. One tenth on each individual can add up to six points in the meet. A landing here, a pointed toe there, is going to help us beat Ohio State."