Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Bucknell
Northwestern Tops Bucknell, 69-61
12/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec 3, 2003
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EVANSTON, Ill.(AP) - Jitim Young had a superb effort Wednesday night in leading the Northwestern men's basketball team to a 69-61 win over Bucknell at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Young, a senior, recorded his second double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 rebounds; he also added a career-high six assists without committing a turnover, and he collected five steals which tied a career best.
As a team, Northwestern had 13 steals which was the most in a game in nearly a year -- the 'Cats had 13 last Dec. 18 against Elon.
"Tonight was our best game of the season," said head coach Bill Carmody. "I thought we played pretty well. We played for 40 minutes, and although we were not always perfect, we did cut down on the turnovers"
Indeed, the Wildcats committed a season-low 10 turnovers and shot 54 percent from the field, including 46.7 percent from beyond the arc. It marked the 10th straight time NU has won a game when shooting a better percentage from the field than its opponent, and the third time this season they have surpassed the 50-percent mark in a game.
T.J. Parker added 14 points and five assists, and Evan Seacat had nine points to lead a balanced attack for Northwestern (3-3), which never trailed in the game.
Vedran Vukusic and Davor Duvancic had eight apiece, while Mohamed Hachad had six and Vince Scott had four in nine minutes of action.
The Wildcats opened the game with a 15-5 run, capped by a basket by Young; later on, he extended the lead with a steal and a layup to put Northwestern up 32-16 with 7:06 left in the first half. At the break, however, Bucknell got a desperation three-point basket from Chris Niesz that cut the lead into single digits (37-28).
"In the first half we were pretty aggressive and worked very hard," said Carmody. "Our movement was pretty good. It was a good game for us all around."
Bucknell (0-4) cut into the deficit even further during the second half, to as little as six (53-47) on Kevin Bettencourt's three-pointer with 8:54 to go. But Northwestern responded with a 10-0 run that ended with a running hook shot by Davor Duvancic. Bucknell could not get inside of single digits after that until the final minute of play.
Chris McNaughton scored 22 points for the Bison, while Bettencourt -- last year's Patriot League Rookie of the Year who entered the night leading the Bison in scoring -- had 11.
Bucknell made just 1-of-17 foul shots in a game earlier this season, but made good on all nine of its free throw attempts Wednesday.
