Boo Buie scored 18 points and Chase Audige added 12 points and two steals, lifting Northwestern to a 59-51 win over Indiana in Evanston, Ill., on Tuesday night.
Down 35-28 in the second half, Northwestern took control with a 13-0 run, holding the Hoosiers scoreless for almost six minutes. Robbie Beran capped the run with a 3-pointer, putting the Wildcats up 41-35 with 14:27 left.
From there, Northwestern maintained its lead. Indiana trimmed the deficit to 48-45 on a Race Thompson pull up jumper with 5:52 left, but Audige answered with a banked-in 3-pointer with 5:26 left to put Northwestern back up 51-45.
The Wildcats (12-10, 5-8 Big Ten) won their third straight game.
Race Thompson led Indiana (16-7, 7-6) with 14 points. The Hoosiers were without five players, including the starting backcourt of Xavier Johnson and Parker Stewart, who were suspended for disciplinary reasons. Also suspended were Tamar Bates, Michael Durr and Khristian Lander.
Trayce Jackson-Davis added 13 points and 11 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season, and Trey Galloway had 13 points, five rebounds and three assists before fouling out with 2:36 left.
Galloway scored nine of Indiana’s first 14 points, making his first four shot attempts to help the Hoosiers jump to an early 14-8 lead. But Northwestern answered with a 13-5 run, going up 21-19 on a driving layup by Buie.
Indiana responded with an 8-0 run, started by a Thompson dunk in transition. Jackson-Davis followed with a three-point play to put Indiana up 24-21, then Jordan Geronimo sank a 3-pointer to extend Indiana’s lead to 27-21 with 4:43 left in the half.
The Hoosiers maintained their lead for the remainder of the half. After an inside basket from Thompson put Indiana up 30-24, Buie hit a driving layup for Northwestern with 1:44 left in the half to cut Indiana’s lead to 30-26 at halftime.
The Wildcats struggled from the perimeter throughout the first half, shooting just 30.6 percent from the field and 1-13 from 3-point range.
–Field Level Media
