Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Lehigh (BCA Invitational)
Wildcats Rally For 61-59 Win Over Mountain Hawks
11/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 14, 2005
Box Score
By DAN LEWERENZ
Associated Press Writer
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) -- To hear Northwestern coach Bill Carmody tell it, nothing went right for his Wildcats: Their best player was exhausted, their center didn't rebound, and Lehigh just played harder.
"We did a lot of dumb things," Carmody said.
But they did one thing right -- with the game on the line, they gave Vedran Vukusic the ball.
Vukusic scored 25 points, including the go-ahead basket with 12.8 seconds left, as Northwestern came back from a double-digit deficit to beat Lehigh 61-59 Sunday night in the first round of the Black Coaches Association Invitational.
The plan was to get Vukusic the ball on an inbound play, but even Carmody had his doubts.
"He's our best player, but he's exhausted," Carmody said. "I wanted to take him out, give him a break."
After Vukusic's jumper from the corner, Evan Seacat recovered a loose ball on Lehigh's end of the court and was intentionally fouled by Mitch Gilfillan with 5.6 seconds left. Seacat made one free throw, and Vukusic, fouled on the inbound play, hit two more to put the game out of reach.
Northwestern (1-0) will face Charlotte in Monday's semifinals; Lehigh (0-1) will play Coppin State in the consolation bracket.
"I think they deserved to win," Carmody said of Lehigh. "They were prepared, they had a game plan, executed it. We were very, very lucky to get out of there."
Lucky, but it wasn't all luck. Down by 12 at one point, the Wildcats scrapped their way back into the game, chipping away at the lead early in the second half while also shutting down Lehigh's Jose Olivero, who had 16 first-half points.
"Everyone remembers the last five minutes of the game, but it was the first five minutes of the second half that determined this game," Lehigh coach Billy Taylor said.
After trailing the entire first half, the Wildcats tied the game at 37 on a pair of Vince Scott free throws, then took their first lead, 40-38, on Scott's 3-pointer with 13:12 left.
After that, the lead changed 10 times before Vukusic's go-ahead shot, with neither team leading by more than three points until the final seconds.
And, just as important, they shut down Olivero, who almost single-handedly built Lehigh's first-half lead. After scoring 16 points in the first half, his only second-half basket was a 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds left.
Kyle Neptune added 16 for the Mountain Hawks, but fouled out with 2:18 left in the game. Bryan White had 11 rebounds.
Tim Doyle added 14 points for Northwestern.
Olivero scored the first eight points in a 10-2 Lehigh run in the first half, first hitting a pair of free throws, then sinking a pair of 3-pointers. Jason Mgebroff's layup with 11:12 left gave the Mountain Hawks an 18-7 lead.
Doyle had a steal and a fast break basket, then scored on another break off a Mohamed Hachad steal, during a 10-0 run that brought the Wildcats within 20-18. But Lehigh closed the half with an 8-3 run and led 28-21 at halftime.
Postgame Notes:
1. With the three-point line moved one foot behind the current mark to 20-feet, 9 inches.
2. With the free throw line widened one foot on each side.
3. With a restricted arc placed three feet from the center of the basket ring.
