Northwestern
Illinois
Illini Edge Wildcats On Last-Second Shot, 60-59
2/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2009
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern led No. 22 Illinois for more than 39 minutes Thursday night, but Demetri McCamey banked in a 10-foot jumper with 2.9 seconds remaining allowing the Illini to steal a 60-59 road win at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Craig Moore's attempt from midcourt at the buzzer was on target but fell short as NU dropped to 13-9 on the year and 4-7 in conference.
Starting the first game of his career, freshman center Luka Mirkovic propelled Northwestern against the Illini with a career-high 14 points while turning in NU's first double-double performance of the season. Mirkovic grabbed 12 boards while chipping in four assists. His 12 rebounds were the most by a Wildcat in the 2008-09 campaign.
Junior Kevin Coble also poured in 14 points with five rebounds for NU.
The Wildcats held a 59-50 lead with 2:20 remaining but hit a dry spell from that point on after having its way on offense for much of the night.
McCamey came out of the locker room as the offensive sparkplug for the Illini, almost single-handedly keeping them in the game with 10 of his team's first 12 second-half points.
But Northwestern continued to execute on the offensive end, just as it had done in the first 20 minutes. Mirkovic converted a left-handed hook shot that was book-ended by a pair of Michael Thompson jumpers as NU took a 43-37 lead.
Illinois shot just over 48 percent from the field for the game but struggled all night from the free throw stripe. The Illini finished 2-of-12 at the line and did not make their first free throw until the 4:19 mark of the second half.
Northwestern held three different 14-point leads in the second half, the last coming off a Mirkovic layup thanks to a look from Coble at the 5:18 mark.
That was when Illinois began chipping away at NU's lead, going on a 10-2 run that was punctuated with a three-point play by Trent Meacham to make it 59-53 Wildcats with 2:10 to play.
In the opening half, Northwestern scored on four of its first five possessions beginning with a 3-pointer by Mirkovic at the top of the key. Consecutive backdoor layups by Thompson and freshman John Shurna gave NU an eight-point lead at the first media timeout.
Illinois eventually erased the deficit, pulling even at 20 on a Mike Tisdale layup at the 6:33 mark. Senior Sterling Williams responded with a jumper for NU before Shurna converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give him eight first-half points.
Both squads traded baskets over the next four possessions culminating in a trey by Thompson with 2:50 remaining to give the Wildcats a 31-25 advantage. That proved to be the final points of the first half, marking the sixth time in 11 Big Ten games NU has been ahead or tied at the intermission.
Northwestern continues its homestand at 2 p.m. Sunday against Michigan.
