Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Rice
Men's Hoops Races Past Rice, 61-47
2/9/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
? Coach Kevin O'Neill
? Collier Drayton
? Aaron Jennings
Freshman center Aaron Jennings (Atkins, Iowa/Benton Community) scored a career-high 18 points to lead Northwestern (5-17) to a non-conference win over visiting Rice (4-16) on Wednesday night.
After a see-saw opening 10 minutes, Northwestern used an 8-2 spurt to gain the upper hand. Junior forward Tavaras Hardy (Joliet, Ill./Providence) had all six of his first-half points in the run which gave the 'Cats an 18-12 lead with 6:23 to play. After a dunk by Jennings pushed the lead back to five, Collier Drayton (Lyons, N.Y./Lyons) buried a three-pointer at the buzzer to send Northwestern into the locker room with a 27-19 lead.
Northwestern extended its lead in the second half, pushing it to 47-32 on a three-pointer by Steve Lepore (North Olmsted, Ohio/St. Edward) with 9:54 left. Rice responded by scoring the next nine points to pull within six with 6:40 remaining, but Northwestern hit 8-of-10 from the line to put the game away.
Freshman Ben Johnson (Minneapolis, Minn./De La Salle) had 12 points, a career-high eight rebounds and five assists for the Wildcats, who placed four in double figures for the first time this season. Hardy added 11 while Drayton finished with 10.
Northwestern resumes Big Ten play this Saturday, hosting the Purdue Boilermakers at 1:30 p.m. at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
