Oft-injured junior forward Aaron Falzon came off the bench to drill a career-high-tying six 3-pointers, sparking Northwestern to a 73-66 victory over Indiana on Tuesday night in Evanston, Ill.
Falzon, who entered the night with six points in 19 minutes this season, finished with 21 points in 20 minutes while missing just 1 of 7 shots. Senior center Dererk Pardon contributed 17 points and senior forward Vic Law added 11 as the Wildcats (12-7, 3-5 Big Ten) rallied from a seven-point, first-half deficit.
Senior forward Juwan Morgan delivered 18 points and 11 rebounds to pace Indiana (12-7, 3-5), which lost its fifth game in a row. Freshman guard Rob Phinisee had 13 points, and freshman guard Romeo Langford managed 12 points while dealing with an injured thumb on his shooting hand. Sophomore guard Justin Smith posted 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Indiana owned a 20-13 lead with 8:50 left in the first half when Northwestern head coach Chris Collins -- who earned his 100th win -- decided to give Falzon a chance. A starter as a freshman who has struggled with multiple injuries in recent years, Falzon drilled three 3-pointers in a 4:15 stretch to help the Wildcats build a 28-24 lead by halftime.
The Hoosiers canned just 1 of 9 3-point attempts before the break, and Langford, who entered the game leading all Big Ten rookies with 17.9 points per night, was limited to three points on three shots.
The Wildcats' lead stood at 37-34 with 16 minutes left in the game when Falzon re-entered and went to work again. He and Law canned back-to-back 3-pointers, then Falzon sank three free throws and followed it up with another 3-pointer to give Northwestern a 49-36 lead with 14:07 to go.
When Falzon swished a 3-pointer from the corner in front of the giddy Northwestern bench with 13:09 left, he pushed the Wildcats' margin to 52-38.
Indiana played without suspended junior guard Devonte Green and injured junior forward De'Ron Davis. Northwestern was missing freshman forward Pete Nance (mono).
--Field Level Media
Indiana | Northwestern | |
Juwan Morgan 18 | Scoring | Aaron Falzon 21 |
Aljami Durham 3 | Assists | Anthony Gaines 6 |
Justin Smith 12 | Rebounds | Anthony Gaines 7 |
Romeo Langford 4 | Free Throws Made | Vic Law 8 |
Aljami Durham 1 | Steals | Ryan Taylor 2 |
Evan Fitzner 1 | Blocks | Vic Law 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Indiana | 66 | 38.3 | 4-21 | 16-21 | 15 | 35 | 4 | 1 | 13 |
Northwestern | 73 | 39.6 | 10-24 | 21-29 | 17 | 27 | 8 | 4 | 5 |