By Ben LarrisonThe Daily Northwestern
Coming off of tough losses at Iowa and Illinois, the Wildcats knew a home victory against Texas-Pan American would help restore some of the confidence that had been lost during the Big Ten season.
Northwestern took advantage of a fast start and never relented, winning 67-56 Wednesday at Welsh-Ryan Arena. In its final non-conference matchup, NU managed to cling to what little remains of its NIT hopes.
“It’s good to get a win,” NU coach Bill Carmody said.
NU (13-14) started the game playing aggressive defense, which helped create steals and fastbreak points. But it also left Texas-Pan American’s snipers open for 3, with nine-straight Broncs points coming from behind the arc as they grabbed an 11-8 lead.
Soon the Cats’ efforts paid off, as they took advantage of high percentage shots and good, open looks from the outside to fuel a 12-1 run. By the time the game was 13 minutes in, the lead swelled to 11 while NU shot 71-percent from the field, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range. The Cats’ first-half lead grew as large as 14 and they entered halftime up 37-26.
NU connected on 12 of its 21 attempts from the floor and, in a rare showing of rebounding superiority, bested Texas-Pan American 12-11 on the boards in the period. Freshman Kevin Coble grabbed a team-best three rebounds to go with his nine first-half points. Senior Tim Doyle led the Cats with 12 points entering the break, connecting on his last five attempts.
“(Doyle) just said ‘nobody’s going to stop me down here,'” Carmody said. “And he was even saying that in the timeout: ‘I can get the ball down there in the low post and do something.’ And you need that, and we actually sorely missed that this year, so that was a good sign.”
At the start of the second half, Texas-Pan American (13-13) woke from its offensive slumber and slowly mounted a threat to get back in the game. A five-minute, 12-4 Broncs run brought them to within five before NU called a timeout. But junior Brian Burrell hit a 3 less than a minute later and turned what was had been dangerously close to a blowout into a one-possession game.
The same Cats defense that had helped them take the early lead began falling victim to Texas-Pan American’s sharp-shooting guards: Burrell and junior Paul Stoll. Burrell finished the game with 24 points to lead the Broncs, while Stoll hit two critical 3-pointers during their key 12-4 push.
Texas-Pan American kept it close until about eight minutes remaining, when NU would once again take control of the game. Eight-straight Cats points brought their lead back to double-digits, and they hung on for their program-best 11th non-conference victory.
NU again shot well from the field in the second half, finishing the night with a field goal percentage above 50-percent for the first time in 2007. Coble’s game-icing free throws brought his total to 18 points, leading the team.
“Earlier in the season, when teams made runs, we wouldn’t be able to stop them and it would sort of get out of hand,” he said. “Tonight it was kind of a positive thing that we were able to sort of stop that and go on a run of our own.”
Reach Ben Larrison at [email protected].
