Kofi Cockburn scored 19 points and pulled down 15 rebounds Sunday afternoon as No. 13 Illinois held on for a 73-66 win over visiting Northwestern in a Big Ten Conference matchup in Champaign, Ill.
Alfonso Plummer also finished with 19 points for Illinois (18-6, 11-3), which completed a regular-season sweep against the Wildcats and maintained a half-game lead atop the Big Ten standings.
RJ Melendez had a career-high 14 points for the Fighting Illini.
Ty Berry scored 16 points to lead Northwestern (12-11, 5-9). Chase Audige finished with 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Pete Nance scored 10 points.
The Fighting Illini surged to an 18-point lead in the second half when Plummer knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 53-35 with 13:05 remaining.
But Northwestern, which had won three Big Ten games in a row, stormed back. Berry scored five points in a row on a 3-pointer and two free throws, Casey Simmons made a layup and Robbie Beran had a dunk before Illinois called timeout with 8:49 remaining to try to regroup.
Yet, the Wildcats stayed hot with a jump shot by Audige and another dunk by Simmons. That 19-2 run brought Northwestern within one point of the lead, 55-54, with 6:13 to go, prompting Illinois coach Brad Underwood to call timeout again.
Cockburn finally scored on a layup and a free throw, snapping the Illini scoring drought that lasted 5:12.
Northwestern pulled within one possession with 3:43 remaining when Simmons made a layup to cut the Illinois lead to 61-58.
Illinois responded with free throws on the next two possessions as Trent Frazier and Melendez pushed the lead back to seven.
The Wildcats stayed close and again clawed back to get within three points of the lead. A layup by Audige brought Northwestern within 69-66 with 23 seconds remaining.
Illinois’ Jacob Grandison was fouled on the next possession and made both free throws to make it 71-66 with 20 seconds left. Nance missed a 3-point attempt on the opposite end for Northwestern, and Melendez grabbed the defensive rebound before being fouled and adding two more free throws.
The Fighting Illini set the tone early, sprinting to a 21-7 advantage in the first 7:11. Plummer and Melendez made two 3-pointers apiece during the early run.
Illinois led at halftime, 44-30.
–Field Level Media
