Northwestern
1-1,0-0Big Ten
Dayton
2-0,0-0Atlantic 10
Martinelli’s Career-High 32 Points Not Enough in Setback at Dayton
11/9/2024 9:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball
DAYTON, Ohio – Northwestern fell to Dayton 71-66 during its first road game of the 2024-25 season on Saturday evening. Junior Nick Martinelli notched career-highs with 32 points and 14 rebounds while knocking down 12-of-16 field goal attempts and 3-of-3 three-point attempts.
First-year Angelo Ciaravino played a career-high 21 minutes and scored 12 points, his first time reaching double-digit scoring in his collegiate career. He scored 12 of the 16 bench points for the Wildcats (1-1). Fellow first-year K.J. Windham, starting the second game of his career, logging nine points, three rebounds and three assists.
Martinelli became the only Big Ten player to post 25-plus points and 10-plus rebounds in the first two games of a season since at least 1996-97. He also became the fourth Wildcat to score 30+ points on 75%+ field goal shooting and the first to do so since Drew Crawford on Dec. 12, 2011.
"There was so much on Nick's plate, where he had to handle the ball, he had to score (and) he was getting all the rebounds," Sullivan-Ubben Head Coach Chris Collins said.
Northwestern led by as many as 13 in the first half and entered halftime with a 32-24 advantage. The Flyers (2-0) fought back, propelled by converting 16-of-23 field goal attempts (69.6%) in the second half. The 'Cats also turned the ball over 16 times during the game.
Northwestern jumped out to an early 7-1 lead, as Dayton did not make their first field goal until nearly four minutes into the contest. It ultimately took the Flyers over 10 minutes to reach the 10-point mark, as Northwestern's defense proved strong.
At the under eight minute mark in the first half, the scoreboard read 15-14 in the 'Cats' favor. In his second collegiate appearance, Ciaravino then scored eight consecutive points during a 12-0 Northwestern run to propel the score to 27-14.
Ciaravino got it started with an and-one off an offensive rebound, which followed by a fastbreak dunk. He capped it off with a 3-pointer. Windham and Martinelli followed iup with baskets of their own.
"I really felt (Angelo and K.J.) could be rotation guys. Obviously, K.J. is in with Brooks being out. K.J. has been a starter, and Angelo, he's just very talented," Collins said. "He's got a lot of things you just can't teach with effort and athleticism and skill."
The 'Cats had nine second-chance points in the first half compared to Dayton's one. At halftime, Martinelli had game-highs 15 points and eight rebounds. By the game's conclusion, Martinelli became the first Northwestern player to score over 25 points in each of the season's opening two games since the 2005-06 season when Vedran Vukusic did it.
When just 10 minutes remained in the game, Northwestern led 51-43, the largest lead it would hold for the remainder of the game. Dayton's wenrt on a 13-5 run and poured in 28 points in the game's final 10 minutes.
"Once they got the lead, we didn't have the poise and composure to kind of get back, control the game," Collins said. "I felt like the first 28, 30 minutes of the game, we had control of the game."
Northwestern returns to action inside Welsh-Ryan Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 12 against UIC at 6 p.m. CT. The tilt will air on Big Ten Network and WGN Radio 720.
