Northwestern Outlasts Ohio State for Road Victory

1/22/2017 2:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Lindsey paces Wildcats with 21 points

COLUMBUS, Ohio --- Scottie Lindsey scored a game-high 21 points to help Northwestern outlast Ohio State Sunday afternoon at Value City Arena, 74-72.

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Bryant McIntosh got the 'Cats out of the gates with a 3-pointer, but the Wildcats were cold from the field early on. Despite the shooting struggles, NU tied the game 11-11 on Vic Law's putback of his own miss with 12:51 remaining in the opening half.

The Buckeyes responded by scoring six straight points but McIntosh kept the Wildcats close as he scored 9 of the team's first 15 points.

Northwestern's aggressiveness got Ohio State into foul trouble as the Wildcats were in the bonus by the midway point of the stanza, helping offset the Buckeyes' 11-of-16 start from the field.

Scottie Lindsey's driving layup with 6:46 remaining knotted the game at 23 before Isiah Brown gave NU the lead with a free throw as the run eventually grew to 10-0, putting the guests in front 27-23.

Ohio State regained the lead with a brief five-point surge, but the Wildcats finished the half strong, stringing together nine straight points before eventually taking a 36-31 lead into the intermission.

Lindsey paced Northwestern with 10 first-half points while McIntosh chipped in with 9 despite only playing half of the period due to foul trouble. After making only four of their first 19 field goal attempts, the 'Cats connected on 10 of their last 14 shots.

An eight-point run spanning both halves allowed the hosts to tie the game early in the second period.

The game was knotted a 43 when a jumper by Law and a transition triple by Lindsey put Northwestern up by five. NU wasn't able to get any further separation, though, and Ohio State came back to take a 55-52 lead on a C.J. Jackson 3-pointer with 8:42 remaining.

Baskets by Lindsey and Sanjay Lumpkin put the Wildcats back up by one with 5:22 left. The advantage was one with under four minutes remaining when Isiah Brown made a tough basket in the lane and then came up with a steal and a layup to make it 63-58 with three minutes to go.

Northwestern returns to action at 7 p.m. Thursday when it hosts Nebraska at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tickets are available at NUsports.com or by calling 888-GO-PURPLE.

Northwestern Notes vs. Ohio State
Jan. 22, 2017
• Northwestern stretched its conference winning streak to four games. It is the second time in three seasons that the Wildcats have won four in a row in Big Ten play.
• Northwestern's 16-4 record marks its best 20-game start to a season in school history. The previous best was 15-5 in 1945-46 and again in 2015-16.
• Northwestern improves to 5-2 in Big Ten play, its best start since beginning the 1967-68 season with the same mark.
• The Wildcats played their fifth road game among their first seven Big Ten contests of the season. Northwestern is now 4-1 on the road in conference play.
• Northwestern's win is just the fourth in 72 games for an unranked Big Ten opponent against Ohio State in Columbus in Thad Matta's 13 seasons as head coach. It's only the ninth victory by an unranked team overall in 198 games against a Matta-coached team in Columbus.
• Junior Scottie Lindsey scored a game-high 21 points Sunday. He now has scored in double figures in all 20 games this season, the longest streak by a Wildcat since John Shurna scored 10 or more points in 22 straight games during the 2011-12 season.
• Bryant McIntosh scored 17 points, raising his career total to 1,058 and moving him past Jeff Grose (1,052; 1986-89) into 31^st place on NU's all-time scoring list.
• Sanjay Lumpkin grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds, marking his fourth double-figure rebounding game of the season and the seventh of his career. Lumpkin raised his career rebounding total to 580, moving him up two spots to 18^th place all-time at Northwestern.
• Lumpkin appeared in his 121^st career game, tying him with Craig Moore for eighth place in Northwestern history while starting his 110^th contest, also matching him with Moore for eighth place in that category.