School-Record Block Party Leads #B1GCats Past Scarlet Knights

Thursday, January 12

Piscataway, N.J.

8 p.m.

Northwestern

14-4, 3-2

Rutgers

11-7, 0-5

Northwestern

Rutgers

School-Record Block Party Leads #B1GCats Past Scarlet Knights

1/12/2017 9:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights Coach Collins Postgame Pardon/Law Postgame

Law scores game-high 23 points for Wildcats

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Dererk Pardon finished just shy of a triple-double (8 points, 11 rebounds, 8 blocked shots) and Vic Law scored 19 of his game-high 23 points in the second half as Northwestern fought off a slow start to defeat Rutgers, 69-60, Thursday night at Rutgers Athletic Center.

NU blocked a school-record 15 shots in the contest, paced by Pardon who recorded the second most blocks ever by a Wildcat in a game.

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The Wildcats came out of the gates slowly as the Scarlet Knights surged in front by scoring the first seven points of the game. NU managed just one field goal in its first 10 attempts as Rutgers' lead grew to 11-3 before Gavin Skelly connected on a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Isiah Brown provided Northwestern with an offensive spark off the bench, tallying 11 points in the first half, including a triple that closed the 'Cats to within 15-13.

However, Rutgers eventually pushed its lead back up to seven by the final media timeout of the period. The Scarlet Knights' advantage grew to nine, but Northwestern scored the final six points of the half to close the deficit to 28-25 at the intermission.

Either team shot the ball well over the opening 20 minutes of play as Rutgers connected on 29 percent of their attempts (9-31) while NU was held to 26.5 percent (9-34). The Wildcats swatted nine Scarlet Knights' shot in the opening stanza, including four by Pardon.

Northwestern got its offense going to open the second half, connecting on four of their first five attempts capped by a runner in the lane by Bryant McIntosh that gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game, 33-32, with 17:19 remaining.

The lead was three coming out of the under-12 media timeout when McIntosh scored four straight points to push the advantage to 44-37.

Rutgers was within three, 46-43, but three free throws by Law and then a transition layup by the redshirt sophomore pushed the lead to eight before a layup by Scottie Lindsey made it a 10-point game.

The lead grew to as many as 13 points and Rutgers was unable to get closer than seven the rest of the way.

Northwestern returns home Sunday, Jan. 15 when it takes on Iowa at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tip time is 6:30 p.m. and tickets are available at NUsports.com or by calling 888-GO-PURPLE.

Northwestern Notes vs. Rutgers
Jan. 12, 2017
• Northwestern improves to 7-1 all-time against Rutgers, including 3-0 in games played in Piscataway.
• Northwestern's 15 blocked shots Thursday are a school record. The Wildcats had blocked 12 shots in a game three times, including twice this season: vs. Bryant, Nov. 25; vs. IUPUI, Dec. 20. NU came into Thursday's game ranked 10^th in the nation with an average of 6.0 blocks per game.
• Dererk Pardon's 8 blocked shots are a career high and the second most ever by a Northwestern player in a game. Pardon's previous career high was 6 blocks vs. Notre Dame Nov. 22, 2016. Jim Pitts holds the Northwestern school record with 10 blocks against Purdue Jan. 8, 1966.
• Senior Sanjay Lumpkin cracked the top 20 on Northwestern career rebounding list. Lumpkin corralled 4 caroms in the game and now has 562 in his career which ranks him 20^th in NU history.
• Gavin Skelly posted 10 rebounds in the game, one shy of his career high of 11 recorded against IUPUI Dec. 20, 2016. It is the second double-figure rebounding game of his career.
• Scottie Lindsey had 14 points in the contest and has now scored in double figures in all 18 games this season. It's the most consecutive games with 10+ points for a Northwestern player since John Shurna had 22 in a row during the 2011-12 season.
• Rutgers' .083 3-point field goal percentage (1-12) is a season low for a Northwestern opponent.

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