It was an ugly battle, but Northwestern snared an overtime win over Eastern Illinois Friday night.
The Wildcats (3-1, 0-0 Big Ten) defeated the Panthers (1-3, 0-0 Ohio Valley) 67-58 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Graduate student guard Jalen Leach led NU with 27 points while junior forward Nick Martinelli added 16.
The ’Cats won the tip but failed to capitalize on its early possessions. That would be the fastest part of the game, as both Northwestern and Eastern Illinois had slow starts.
After a few possessions, Martinelli put NU on the board with an easy layup. The Panthers were still looking for some points but a bad pass by Nakyel Shelton led to Martinelli stealing the ball. He passed it off to Leach and a fast-break ensued, finishing with a foul by EIU. Leach made both shots at the charity stripe for his first points of the game, lifting Northwestern to a 4-0 lead just two minutes into the game.
Shelton made a second-chance jumper to give EIU its first two points. The Panthers were consistently scrambling for an open look but couldn’t find one. On the other side of the court, senior guard Ty Berry made a three-pointer that was quickly followed by the Panthers’s Isaiah Griffin.
After a sluggish start by both teams, the action kicked up with only five minutes remaining in the first frame. EIU hadn’t scored in almost four minutes before the final media timeout but it started to chip away at the lead after a three-pointer by Zion Fruster and another jumper. NU’s 11-point lead dwindled to just six in only a minute.
The Wildcats found their stride in the final minutes of the half, with a momentum-shifting dunk by junior guard Justin Mullins around the four-minute mark. After Eastern Illinois’ Artese Stapleton missed a three-pointer, Mullins took advantage, and fed Martinelli for a layup that forced an EIU timeout. NU’s defense tightened up, holding the Panthers to 27 points and built an eight-point lead with under a minute remaining. The ’Cats’ double-digit scoring burst pushed the halftime score to 37-27.
After halftime, EIU opened with a quick jumper. Northwestern tried to answer but stayed scoreless for the first two minutes of the second half. Finally, a foul by EIU granted Berry free throws but he only made the first.
A couple of sloppy back-and-forth possessions by both teams were put to rest by a creative second-chance jumper by the 6-foot-7 Glenview, Illinois, native Martinelli. Regardless, the second half resembled the slow start in the first, with the ’Cats only scoring five points in the first eight minutes, leading 42-35.
The minimal offensive play by the Wildcats only gave the Panthers more chances to close the deficit to 45-43 with about nine minutes to go in the game.
This proved to be the ’Cats’ demise, as Eastern Illinois grabbed the lead quickly after a made-jumper and free throw. With that, the non-conference matchup quickly turned into a toss-up.
With only 53 seconds remaining in the game, the atmosphere in Welsh-Ryan Arena erupted when Leach pulled up a clutch three-point jumper to put the ’Cats ahead 58-56. After an Eastern Illinois timeout, the Panthers responded with a jumper to tie the game with 31 seconds to go.
The ’Cats got possession of the ball after an official review with three seconds to win it, but Berry missed a long fadeaway, sending the game to overtime.
Neither team scored on its first possessions, but NU took the ball back down the floor and Leach drew a foul, sending him to the line for the seventh time. The ’Cats held onto the lead when EIU committed a foul on Martinelli, which gave the team a four-point lead with just 90 seconds to play. Out of the timeout, Leach seemingly ended the game with a three-pointer and two more free throws pushing the ‘Cats to a 67-58 win.
Here are two takeaways from the overtime win.
- The Wildcats need to find consistent scoring.
NU started the game with a quick offensive strategy but simply wasn’t taking advantage of easy mistakes made by Eastern Illinois. If the Panthers were a much better offensive team, this game would’ve looked nothing like a non-conference matchup and instead resembled a blowout. This wasn’t a one-off, when late in the second half the ’Cats went on an almost five-minute scoring drought.
Jalen Leach may be the answer to that problem.
- Jalen Leach has his best performance in purple and white.
Almost topping his career-high of 29, Leach finished the game with a shocker stat line. The graduate student guard kept NU within reach of the Panthers when things looked bleak. Leach led the ’Cats with 27 points, shooting 15-of-16 from the charity stripe and 5-of-12 from the field, playing 42 of the 45-minutes in the game. His three-point make in overtime sealed the deal for NU.
The ’Cats will be back in Welsh-Ryan Arena on Tuesday to face off against the Montana State Bobcats.
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Twitter: @taylorhancock23
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