Northwestern
Arizona State
Parker's Last-Second Shot Sinks Sun Devils, 63-61
12/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec 17, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) - Sophomore guard T.J. Parker scored 12 points, including the winning basket as time expired to propel the Northwestern men's basketball team to a 63-61 victory against Arizona State Wednesday night.
Sophomore forward Vedran Vukusic scored a career-high 26 points as Northwestern improved to 5-3 overall. It was NU's first game in 11 days; the University was in exams all of last week.
Senior Jitim Young -- who finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds -- forced a jump ball that went Northwestern's way with 4.6 seconds remaining.
After both teams took timeouts, Parker received the inbounds pass and dribbled the length of the court before hitting a 14-foot jumper in the lane to give Northwestern the win and set off an explosion of celebration as he was mobbed by his teammates.
"The play was set up for T.J.," said head coach Bill Carmody. "I did not think we would be able to get (the ball) to him, so we kept Vedran in the game. It seemed to me that Parker would have been fouled had it been the first half, since a team is always more cautious toward the end of a game when it wants to avoid putting a guy on the line to win it. T.J. got a pretty good look and made a big shot."
Northwestern led by as many as 13 early in the second half, but Arizona State (4-2), which has proven itself to be a second-half team all season, was able to cut into the Wildcats' lead. The Sun Devils outscored Northwestern 8-0 during a five-minute span, and ASU All-American Ike Diogu had a putback to get the Sun Devils within 42-38 with 11:20 left.
Justin Allen hit a 3-pointer for Arizona State to tie it at 49 with 6:09 left, and Steve Moore hit another trey to give the Sun Devils a 60-59 lead with 1:25 left. It was ASU's first lead since 13-12 midway through the first half.
"They are a good team. They never quit," Carmody said of the Sun Devils, who received voting points in this week's USA Today/ESPN national coaches poll. "In all of their games this season, they seem like a second-half team. They play hard and they never stop. We told our guys that at halftime."
Vukusic came back down and hit two free throws for the Wildcats to give them a 61-60 lead. Allen Morill missed his first free throw for Arizona State, but hit the second to tie the game at 61 with 45.9 left. Both teams missed opportunities, setting the stage for Parker's heroics
Diogu finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds for Arizona State; he was the only Sun Devil in double figures. Moore finished with nine points. As a team, Arizona State was just 5-for-22 from 3-point range in the game while the Wildcats were 9-of-23.
Northwestern went on a 9-0 run in the first half, hitting three treys in a row. Evan Seacat, Vukusic and Young each had a 3-pointer; Young's put the 'Cats up 21-13 with 8:44 left in the first half, and that lead held until halftime (34-27). NU was 7-for-10 from 3-point range in the first half, while Arizona State (5-3) was 1-for-10.
The Wildcats extended their lead in the second half, scoring the first six points of the half. Vukusic had the first four points, then made a nice pass to Parker on a backdoor play to make it 40-27, Northwestern's largest lead of the game.
Parker added a career-high eight assists; Vukusic had six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals in playing the entire game.
Northwestern is back in action Saturday afternoon, taking on Illinois-Chicago at the UIC Pavilion. Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m. CST and the game will be televised locally on Fox Sports Chicago.
