Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Liberty
Crawford Leads Northwestern Past Liberty, 69-53
11/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2009
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EVANSTON, Ill. -
Freshman Drew Crawford hit five 3-pointers and scored a collegiate-best 22 points as Northwestern cruised to a 69-53 victory over Liberty Tuesday evening at Welsh-Ryan Arena as part of the Chicago Invitational Challenge.
NU improves to 3-1 with the victory while the Flames fall to 1-5.
Crawford had just 12 combined points in his first three collegiate games, but was coming off a solid all-around performance in Sunday's victory over Tennessee State when he posted 8 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. He continued to show he was beginning to settle in Tuesday night.
Crawford had a tip-in and a triple in the early stages of the contest as the Wildcats raced out to a 19-6 lead just over seven minutes into the game and never looked back.
Liberty was within 23-14 before Northwestern used an 11-point run, capped by a dunk by Jeremy Nash, to take its largest lead of the opening half at 34-14 with 5:21 to go. NU would eventually take a 37-20 advantage into the intermission. Crawford had eight points before the break, while John Shurna added seven points and nine rebounds.
The guests were able to close within 10 points early in the second stanza, but never seriously threatened. A 15-6 run sparked by 10 points by Crawford pushed Northwestern's lead back up to 19 and Liberty never got any closer than a 12-point deficit with just under three minutes to go.
In all, nine Wildcats got in the scoring column while Nash was the primary facilitator, posing a career-best seven assists. NU assisted on 22 of its 27 made baskets in the contest.
Northwestern shot 49.1 percent (27-55) from the floor, compared to just 35.4 percent (17-48) for Liberty. The Flames also committed 19 turnovers which the 'Cats turned into 20 points.
NU returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Friday when it faces Notre Dame as the Chicago Invitational Challenge moves to the UIC Pavilion.
