NU Roars Into Big Ten Play With Win Over Houston Baptist

Thursday, December 22

Evanston, Ill.

7 p.m.

Northwestern

11-2

Houston Baptist

4-6

Houston Baptist

Northwestern

Photo by: Colin B Photography

NU Roars Into Big Ten Play With Win Over Houston Baptist

12/22/2016 8:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Highlights Box Score (PDF)Postgame Press Conference

Lindsey paces Wildcats with 19 points

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern used a solid defensive effort in the second half to overcome a slow start as the Wildcats wrapped up the nonconference portion of their season with a 72-63 victory over Houston Baptist Thursday evening at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

The win is the eighth consecutive for NU and improves the 'Cats to 11-2. Scottie Lindsey paced four Wildcats in double figures with 19 points.

Northwestern begins its Big Ten schedule December 27 at Penn State and December 30 at Michigan State before returning home to host Minnesota at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 5.

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Averaging 82.4 points per game, the Huskies got off to a good start offensively and led the Wildcats 16-11 eight minutes into the contest.

A 3-pointer by Scottie Lindsey trimmed the NU deficit to two, but Houston Baptist responded by pushing its lead to seven, 23-16, as the clock went under 8 minutes left in the opening half.

Another 3-pointer – this time by Isiah Brown – got Northwestern within four, but back-to-back baskets by the guests extended their advantage to 29-21, forcing the Wildcats to burn a timeout.

As the Huskies remained hot from the field, NU cooled off and the deficit eventually grew to 12.

Houston Baptist eventually took a 35-25 halftime lead as Northwestern managed just 26.7 percent shooting (8-30) over the opening 20 minutes of play. The Huskies, meanwhile, connected on 53.8 percent (14-26) of their first-half field goal attempts.

NU pecked away at the deficit at the start of the second period as 3-pointers by Sanjay Lumpkin and Bryant McIntosh got the Wildcats within four just over two minutes into the half.

Northwestern twice got within one before a putback basket by Lumpkin gave the 'Cats a 45-44 lead as the clock went under 13 minutes remaining. Trailing by a point, Lindsey nailed a corner triple before Brown made a pair from the charity stripe and then scored in the lane, giving NU a 52-46 advantage with 9 minutes left.

The Wildcats' lead was still at six when Vic Law grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to make it 58-50 with 5 minutes to go. Law's three-point play a minute later extended the advantage to 11 and Houston Baptist was unable to get closer than six the rest of the way.

Northwestern limited Houston Baptist to 28.6 percent (8-28) shooting from the field in the second half, including 0-for-9 from 3-point range.

Northwestern Notes vs. Houston Baptist
Dec. 22, 2016
• Northwestern improves to 2-0 all-time against Houston Baptist.
• The win is the Wildcats' eighth consecutive. It also is their 18^th straight in the month of December and their 21^st consecutive home win against nonconference foes.
• The 12-point deficit overcome by Northwestern is its largest since coming back from 12 down in an 81-72 win at Nebraska Dec. 30, 2015.
• Freshman center Barret Benson posted career highs of 6 rebounds and 3 assists in the contest.
• Northwestern grabbed a season-high 17 offensive rebounds and converted them into 25 second-chance points.
• Sanjay Lumpkin finished one rebound shy of recording his third consecutive double-double. He posted 11 points and 9 rebounds in the game.

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