Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Pepperdine
Buzzer-Beater Sinks Men's Basketball Team, 57-56
1/8/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2000
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) - Tezale Archie sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer ? his only field goal of the game ? allowing Pepperdine to withstand an amazing Northwestern rally and stun the Wildcats, 57-56, at Welsh-Ryan Arena Saturday afternoon.
The first half was sloppy, as Northwestern hit just two field goals while Pepperdine wasn't much better shooting 33 percent. As a result, the Waves took a 23-17 lead into the locker room at the half.
The second half started much differently, though, as Pepperdine came out strong and quickly built upon their lead. Hitting eight of their first nine field goals, the Waves expanded the lead to 45-26 with less than 12 minutes to play.
But David Newman sank a 3-pointer, Ben Johnson scored on a layup and Jason Burke scored on a baseline drive to trim the deficit to 12 at 45-33 with 9:51 left. A putback by Tavaras Hardy cut the Pepperdine lead to 10 at 47-37 with 8:10 remaining and two free throws and a short jumper by Johnson drew Northwestern to within six at 49-43 with 5:00 to go.
Tommie Prince split two free throws with 4:37 left in the game, but Newman hit a 3-pointer 30 seconds later and Collier Drayton made two free throws with 3:32 left to cut the lead to two at 50-48. Drayton then made a great hustle play on defense, diving to steal an interior pass with 2:25 left, and Hardy's two-handed dunk on the ensuing NU possession tied the game at 50 with 1:55 remaining.
Sheppard snapped a six-minute field-goal drought for Pepperdine on a layup with 1:36 left, but Johnson re-tied the game with two free throws with 1:19 remaining. Two free throws by Hardy with 1:02 left gave Northwestern its first lead of the game at 54-52.
Johnson ? who led the Wildcats with a career-high 19 points ? sank two foul shots with 31.3 seconds left, before David Lalazarian made two free throws with 22 seconds left to keep the Waves within two.
After getting the ball over the timeline, Johnson dribbled into a trap along the left sideline and threw an errant pass which Archie intercepted at the free-throw line. Archie dribbled into the frontcourt as the clock ran down and swished a 3-pointer as time expired.
Kelvin Gibbs had 15 points to lead Pepperdine in scoring.
Northwestern will be in Big Ten action at Welsh-Ryan Arena two times next week. On Thursday, the 'Cats host Penn State beginning at 6 p.m., and on Saturday NU entertains Ohio State at 7 p.m.
