For the second straight game, things came down to the wire for the Northwestern men’s basketball team.
But this time – unlike Wednesday’s loss at Purdue – the Wildcats were on the winning end of the 63-57 score when the final buzzer sounded.
After Saturday’s victory, NU has equaled its 2000-01 win total with 10 games left to play in the regular season.
With three minutes remaining, Buffalo tied the game at 53, and NU was dealt a severe blow as Winston Blake, the Cats’ second-leading scorer, fouled out. On the ensuing possession, Jitim Young got open at the top of the key on a set play, and the struggling sophomore drained a three-pointer, his only field goal of the night.
Young, who played limited minutes against the Boilermakers on Wednesday, scored only five points against the Bulls before a crowd of 6,119 at Alumni Arena.
But the three-pointer turned out to be the most important shot of the game for NU, keying a 10-4 game-ending run by the Cats (11-7).
During the final run, the Cats went 5 of 8 from the charity stripe. Throughout the game, NU’s biggest problem wasn’t its usual free-throw trouble – it was Buffalo senior Louis Campbell.
Campbell singlehandedly kept the Bulls (9-10) in the game, scoring 26 points. Buffalo’s second highest scorer was freshman Mark Bortz, who finished with nine points.
“Everything seemed to be going his way,” NU coach Bill Carmody said of Campbell. “He took some tough shots, some bad shots that went in.”
Campbell was 6-for-12 from behind the arc, with five of those three-pointers coming during his 20-point second-half explosion.
“He wanted to take over the game,” Tavaras Hardy said. “He wanted to take his team on his back. He’s unstoppable.”
This isn’t the first time NU has had to contend with Campbell, who tagged the Cats for 23 points in an NU win last year.
But the NU defense did limit Buffalo’s leading scorer, Darcel Williams, to just four points.
The Cats were also able to jump out to an early lead in Saturday’s game, something they didn’t do in their last three losses.
“In the Purdue loss, we got down early,” NU center Aaron Jennings said. “Against Buffalo, we just wanted to come out strong. They matched our intensity, and that was why it was so close.”
At halftime, NU trailed 29-27, despite Hardy’s 11 first-half points.
“I think we were taking too many three-point shots and taking them early in the (shot) clock,” Carmody said. “We were defending a lot.”
That defense limited the Bulls to 36 percent shooting from the field, while the Cats made 50 percent of their shots.
In the second half, after another three-pointer by Campbell, NU went on a 15-2 run to go up by eight. But the Cats couldn’t stretch the lead into double digits to pull away.
While Campbell paced the Bulls’ scoring, three Cats reached double digits. Hardy led the team with 18 points and 10 rebounds, Jennings had 12 points, and Winston Blake added 11.
Against the Bulls, Jennings came up with his third straight impressive performance.
“He’s playing the way he should be playing,” Carmody said. “He’s starting to fulfill
expectations.”
Vedran Vukusic scored two points before dislocating his shoulder in the first half. Vukusic, who has a recurring shoulder ailment, will not practice this week and might not play against Wisconsin on Wednesday.
After the narrow loss to Purdue, the Cats knew they needed a win against Buffalo.
“Guys were still disappointed – it’s a lot better to be 3-3 in the conference than 2-4,” Hardy said. “(But) it was good for us to get that win (over Buffalo).”
