Northwestern
Bowling Green
Wildcats End BGSU's Nonconference Home Winning Streak 77-60
12/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (AP) -- Jitim Young scored 23 points and Vedran Vukusic added 20 to lead Northwestern to a 77-60 victory over Bowling Green on Saturday.
It was a fantastic finish to a brutal early stretch this season for the Wildcats (4-3), who were playing their seventh game in 15 days. The Falcons had won 20 straight games versus nonconference opponents at Anderson Arena prior to Saturday.
Vukusic was 7-of-12 from the field and 4-of-7 on three-point attempts for the Wildcats, who hit 50 percent of their treys -- a season-high 12 makes on 24 attempts -- to just 27 percent for the Falcons (4-of-15). Young was 6-of-11 from the field and made 9-of-10 foul shots.
For the game, the 'Cats shot 53.1 percent from the field (26-of-49), the fourth time they have gone over the 50-percent mark this season. That matches the number of times they did it all of last season.
"It's great to get a road win, especially at a venue like this," said Northwestern coach Bill Carmody. "Even more gratifying was that we played pretty well. It's been a tough stretch here early in the season, but I'm pleased with the way we've progressed."
Vukusic hit a trey with 15:19 left in the first half to give the Wildcats a 6-3 lead, and they never trailed after that. The lead was extended to as much as 10 during the opening stanza (23-13), but the Falcons scored the last four points of the half to close the gap to 33-28 at the break.
Vukusic set the tone for the second half, however, sandwiching a pair of trey around a Josh Almanson layup, and then hitting another jumper inside the arc that pushed the lead to 11 (41-30). The lead flip-flopped between single digits and double digits for several minutes after that, before a 13-2 Northwestern run over a span of 3:35 turned a 56-49 game into a rout (69-51). The lead got as high as 20 before settling on the final score.
"That's (Northwestern) the best team that has come in here since I have been coach," said Bowling Green coach Dan Dakich. "I don't know where they are going to end up in the Big Ten, but I know they play really, really hard and very, very well."
Davor Duvancic was 3-of-4 from the 3-point line and Young was 2-of-4. Duvancic finished with 13 points while shooting 5-of-6 from the field, and dished out a team-leading five assists. Mohamed Hachad added 12 points while T.J. Parker had nine as the NU starters scored all of the Wildcats' points in the game.
Kevin Netter led Bowling Green with 16 points, hitting all eight of his shots. Austin Montgomery and Josh Almanson added 11 points apiece.
