Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Chicago State
Men's Basketball Shuts Down Chicago State, 80-42
11/24/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov 24, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - Tavaras Hardy (Joliet, Ill./Providence) scored 16 points and Jitim Young (Chicago, Ill./Gordon Tech) added 15 Saturday night as Northwestern beat Chicago State, 80-42. The game was the home opener for the Wildcats, who improved to 3-1 overall.
Winston Blake (Plano, Texas/Senior) scored 11 points and freshman Vedran Vukusic (Split, Croatia/Medical HS) added 10 for the Wildcats, who played without starting point guard Collier Drayton (Lyons, N.Y./Lyons). Drayton sprained his ankle in practice earlier this week but is expected back for Wednesday night's game against Florida State.
Jason Burke (Plano, Texas/East) got the starting nod in Drayton's place, scoring six points and dishing out five assists in 29 minutes. Another pleasant surprise was the appearance of Drew Long (Houston, Texas/Stratford), who played 21 minutes in his first game of the year. Long finished with seven points, hitting both of his three-point attempts, and had four assists.
The Wildcats shot 56 percent from the field for the game, with Hardy going 5-of-6 and Young 7-of-11. It was the second-best shooting day by NU in the Bill Carmody era, surpassed only by a 57.4-percent performance a year ago against St. Peter's. Chicago State, meanwhile, shot 35 percent.
After surrendering the game's first four points, the Wildcats scored nine of the next 11 to take a lead they would not relinquish. NU had other runs of 14-2 and 11-1 in the first half to take a comfortable 19-point lead at halftime, 38-19. The 'Cats then pulled even further ahead in the second half with a 14-5 run.
Vukusic made a layup after a nice back-door pass from Blake, and Long hit a three-pointer to highlight a stretch in which Northwestern scored on 11 straight possessions to lead 69-35 with about six minutes left.
Clark Bone's 14 points led Chicago State (0-3), but the Cougars had 10 turnovers against nine field goals and were 0-of-6 from three-point range and 1-of-6 in free throws in the first half.
Northwestern (3-1) hosts Florida State on Wednesday in the ACC/Big 10 Challenge. Tip time is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. CST and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN2.
