Northwestern Holds Off Dayton Rally at the United Center

Saturday, December 17

Chicago, Ill. (United Center)

6 p.m.

Northwestern

9-2

Dayton

7-3

Dayton

Northwestern

Photo by: Stephen J. Carrera

Northwestern Holds Off Dayton Rally at the United Center

12/17/2016 7:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Highlights Box Score (PDF)Postgame Quotes (PDF)Postgame Press Conference

Stellar first-half performance leads Wildcats to victory

CHICAGO -- Northwestern put together a magnificent first-half performance and then held on a late charge by Dayton to post a 67-64 victory Saturday evening at United Center as part of State Farm Chicago Legends.

Sanjay Lumpkin recorded a double-double, tallying 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Bryant McIntosh (13), Scottie Lindsey (11) and Nathan Taphorn (11) also scored in double figures for NU.

The Wildcats (9-2) surged early, locking down on Dayton defensively while tallying the first 11 points of the contest, forcing the Flyers to burn a timeout at the 16:21 mark. Lindsey got NU going by drilling a pair of 3-pointers in the opening three minutes of action.

Northwestern opened the game with eight straight defensive stops overall to help it surge out to the early advantage.

The Flyers crept back to within 13-8, but Lumpkin's sixth rebound in the opening seven minutes of play led to a reload triple by Isiah Brown.

Taphorn got into the act with a trey of his own, igniting an 18-3 run that pushed the advantage to a 36-12 as the clock ticked under three minutes left in the first period.

While the offense was clicking, the defense was even more impressive, limiting Dayton to only three field goals in their first 27 attempts over the opening 18 minutes of play.

The Wildcats would take a convincing 40-17 lead into halftime, limiting Dayton to 14.3 percent (4-28) shooting from the field.

Lumpkin, Lindsey and Taphorn paced the 'Cats with 8 points apiece while Lumpkin dominated the glass, hauling in 11 boards, only one shy of his career high for an entire game.

Dayton was much more effective offensively to start the second half, creeping to within 17 just under five minutes into the stanza, but a 3-pointer by McIntosh pushed the lead back to 20.

The Flyers got as close as they had been all game when they connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to trim NU's advantage to 55-41 with 8:11 left.

The Dayton run eventually reached 13 straight points and cut the Northwestern lead to nine before Vic Law hit one free throw to make it 56-46 with 5:51 to go.

The Flyers twice closed to within eight and closed the deficit further with 2:17 left when Scoochie Smith a free throw to make it 59-52.

Dayton made it a four-point game on a 3-pointer by Smith, but a cold-blooded jumper by McIntosh pushed the lead to six with a minute remaining. After the Flyers scored on the other end, Brown was fouled with 38.1 seconds remaining and hit one free throw to up NU's lead to 62-57.

One free throw by Dayton with 26 seconds remaining got the Flyers back within four, but two makes from the charity stripe by Lindsey with 23.1 seconds left pushed the advantage to six.

Dayton got within three with 9.2 seconds remaining, but McIntosh hit two from the line with 7.8 seconds to go to seal the win.

Northwestern returns to action at 7 p.m. Tuesday when it hosts IUPUI at Welsh-Ryan Arena. BUY TICKETS TO THAT GAME HERE!

Northwestern Notes vs. Dayton
Dec. 17, 2016
• Northwestern evens its all-time series with Dayton, 2-2, with the win. The Wildcats have won the last two meetings.
• Sanjay Lumpkin recorded his fifth career double-double in the contest. His 14 rebounds established a career high, topping his previous best of 12 on three occasions.
• Lumpkin's 14 points Saturday are one shy of his career high of 15 posted at Brown on Nov. 17, 2014.
• Dayton's 17 first-half points are a season low in a half for a Northwestern opponent. The previous low was 18 by DePaul in the first half on Dec. 3.
• Northwestern is now 1-1 in regular-season games played at United Center. The Wildcats also have played 11 Big Ten tournament games at UC.
• NU has won 16 straight games in the month of December dating back to 2014.

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