Northwestern’s narrow loss to Rutgers on Sunday can be characterized by a dominant theme of the season: senior forward Nick Martinelli showing out with little help from his teammates.
With just under 10 seconds left in regulation and a 1-point lead, Martinelli inbounded the ball to junior guard Jayden Reid, but it slipped off Reid’s hands. Coach Chris Collins challenged the call, which stood after review, giving possession to Rutgers. With the chance to tie up the game, Rutgers guard Darren Buchanan Jr. was fouled and converted one of two free throws, tying up the game at 67-67.
The teams played just about even for the five minutes of overtime. With about 10 seconds to go in overtime and down by two, Martinelli was fouled. He made the first free throw, but the second rolled out of the basket.
Rutgers only held the lead for 5:01 of the game, but the Scarlet Knights (9-8, 2-4 Big Ten) managed to hold on when it mattered most.
Collins said that Northwestern’s locker room was dejected.
“I’m just disappointed we couldn’t finish the deal,” Collins said.
Despite the loss, Martinelli showed the audience at Jersey Mike’s Arena why he’s the Big Ten leading scorer, notching a career-high 34 points, marking his 12th 20-point game of the season. He started the Wildcats (8-8, 0-5 Big Ten) off strong by scoring nine of Northwestern’s 11 points within the first five minutes of the game.
The senior has also improved his three-point shooting from last season, shooting over .500 from deep this year. In their game against Rutgers, the ’Cats posted a dominant showing from three to start the game, going 4-for-5, an uncharacteristically impressive performance. They were unable to maintain this high-percentage three-point shooting, going 0-for-7 in their next seven attempts.
NU maintained control for the first half of the game with a maximum lead of 12 points, but the Scarlet Knights didn’t let up, closing the gap to just two points at the end of the half.
Rutgers continued to put pressure on the ’Cats through high-quality ball movement. The Scarlet Knights managed to take their first lead of the game just under five minutes into the second half as center Emmanuel Ogbole dunked to make the score 42-41.
Freshman guard Jake West put up a career-high nine points, all of which were scored from beyond the arc. Junior center Arrinten Page also had a strong showing, putting up 14 points and six rebounds.
“I was proud of Jake for getting to the basket and getting a good shot,” Collins said. “Hopefully, games like this will continue to be a confidence booster as we move forward.”
The ’Cats struggled defensively, as they have for the whole season. Rutgers guard Tariq Francis posed the greatest challenge, scoring 30 points throughout the contest.
Another key weakness was free-throw shooting — the ’Cats sank just 58.6% of their free throws while Rutgers made 70.4%.
NU returns home to play No. 16 Illinois on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
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