Northwestern
Buffalo
Men's Basketball Handles Buffalo, 79-63
1/31/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern had four starters in double figures and used hard-nosed defense Wednesday night to down Buffalo, 79-63, at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The win gave first-year coach Bill Carmody his 100th as a head coach. He had 92 in four years at Princeton before coming to Evanston in September.
Center Tavaras Hardy led the Wildcats (8-13) in this first-ever meeting between the two teams with a season-high 21 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Forward Ben Johnson and guard Jitim Young tallied 16 points apiece. Young, who severely dislocated a finger on his left hand Saturday night against Michigan, also had four steals and snared six rebounds.
Forward Winston Blake added 10 points for Northwestern, which never trailed in the contest. The Wildcats shot 53.8 percent (28-of-52) from the field, and dished out 22 assists on their 28 field goals while turning the ball over just eight times. Collier Drayton led the way with a career-high nine assists and committed just one turnover.
Northwestern jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the first four minutes, and stretched it to 28-14 by the midway point of the first half. It hovered at that mark until the teams went into the locker room with NU up, 42-30.
The Wildcats then used a 10-4 run to start the second stanza, and saw its lead bulge to as much as 19 before settling on the final score.
Guard Louis Campbell (game-high 23 points) and forward Robert Brown (15) paced the Bulls (2-15), who suffered their 10th straight defeat. Buffalo was held to 43.4 percent (23-for-58) shooting from the floor and was outrebounded by the 'Cats, 37-29.
Northwestern will close out the regular season with eight Big Ten games in the month of February, beginning Saturday in Champaign with sixth-ranked Illinois. The teams will tip off at the Illini's Assembly Hall at 1:30 p.m.
