National Basketball Association
Northwestern 84, Nebraska 74
When: 7:00 PM ET, Thursday, February 2, 2012
Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Illinois
Officials:
# Bo Boroski, # Mike Eades, # Ted Valentine
Attendance:
5239
By SportsDirect Inc.
John Shurna scored 28 points as Northwestern held off two big second-half rallies to down visiting Nebraska 84-74 on Thursday.
Drew Crawford added 21 points for the Wildcats (13-8, 3-6 Big Ten), who saw each of their starters hit at least two 3-pointers en route to a 14-for-32 effort behind the arc.
Northwestern jumped out to a 15-point lead at the break thanks to 10 3-pointers, but saw most of that advantage evaporate as Nebraska’s Bo Spencer scored 10 points during a 27-13 run to open the second half.
Crawford quickly answered with another 3-pointer as the Wildcats rolled off nine unanswered points to quickly re-establish a double-digit bulge.
Nebraska (11-10, 3-7) rallied once again after Northwestern made it a 12-point game as the Huskers forced four turnovers on the next five Wildcats possessions to move to within 75-72 with 1:39 remaining on a 3-pointer from Spencer.
But Nebraska could manage only one more field goal from that point on as Shurna hit a jumper and Northwestern closed out the game with seven free throws.
The Wildcats also improved to 9-1 this season when hitting at least nine 3-pointers.
Spencer finished with a team-high 24 points for the Cornhuskers, who missed out on their opportunity to win consecutive road games for the first time since the 2008-09 season despite shooting a season-best 11 for 26 from 3-point range.
Top Game Performances
Nebraska |
|
Northwestern |
Bo Spencer 24 |
Scoring |
John Shurna 28 |
Brandon Richardson 5 |
Assists |
Davide Curletti 8 |
Brandon Ubel 9 |
Rebounds |
Dave Sobolewski 6 |
Bo Spencer 4 |
Free Throws Made |
John Shurna 7 |
Brandon Richardson 2 |
Steals |
Drew Crawford 4 |
Jorge Brian Diaz 1 |
Blocks |
John Shurna 2 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Nebraska
|
74 |
51.9 |
11-26 |
7-9 |
19 |
26 |
2 |
6 |
13 |
Northwestern
|
84 |
45.1 |
14-31 |
24-29 |
17 |
26 |
3 |
10 |
8 |