Men’s Basketball

With his right shoe at the other end of the court, Aaron Falzon made the shot that sparked the Wildcats.

The freshman forward drilled Northwestern’s first 3-pointer of the game late in the first half, minus a shoe, to bring the Welsh-Ryan Arena crowd to its feet and send NU (7-1) on its way to an 81-56 win over Southern Illinois Edwardsville (1-7) on Saturday.

Falzon, who added a pair of 3s in the first minute of the second half, finished with 17 points, second only to senior center Alex Olah, who led all scorers with a season-high 21.

“Certainly pleased with the win today,” coach Chris Collins said. “We did a lot of good things, some things we could do better. The main takeaway from this game was getting Alex going again.”

The Cats seized control in the second half after Falzon’s early 3-pointers pushed NU’s 9-point halftime lead to a 15-point margin. The Cats never led by fewer than 13 after the 15 minute mark, and at one point held a 27-point advantage.

NU’s 3-point shooting picked up substantially in the second half. After a 2-of-10 output before the break, the Cats shot a whopping 7-of-12 from beyond the arc after intermission. Junior forward Nathan Taphorn led the way in the final 20 minutes, going 3-of-4 from 3.

“First half, we got off to a tough start shooting the ball. We had great looks,” Collins said. “Second half we were able to open it up a little bit, make some shots.”

Olah was a force from the opening tip in an otherwise unspectacular first half. He opened the scoring with a layup on NU’s first possession, then added an assist and another basket in the next two minutes.

NU’s best first half stretch came midway through the period. In little more than four minutes, the Cats used a balanced attack, punctuated by Falzon’s one-shoe 3-pointer, to turn a five point lead into a 31-18 advantage.

“I was open,” Falzon said of his sock-footed 3. “When I’m open coach tells me to shoot it…I just put it up.”

NU took care of business without significant scoring numbers from its two leading scorers, guards Bryant McIntosh and Tre Demps. The pair, which entered the day averaging a combined 33.7 points per game, had just 18 on Saturday. The sophomore, McIntosh, did contribute eight assists, and Demps, a senior, added seven of his own.

Sophomore guard Scottie Lindsey, who scored 26 points against New Orleans last week, was also a relative non-factor on Saturday. Despite starting, Lindsey played just 14 minutes and scored only 4 points on a pair of buckets late in the second half.

“We have those three guys who are kind of our shooters, Scottie, (Taphorn), and Aaron,” Collins said. “I feel like all three of those players are good players.”

For Olah, Saturday’s performance was badly needed and greatly welcomed. He scored just 5 points in Tuesday’s overtime win against Virginia Tech, and had gone three consecutive games without scoring in double figures.

“I just said this is it. I can’t have too many more games, any more games, where I score 4 points,” he said. “I’m a senior. I have to lead this team.”

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Twitter: @ckpaxton