Indiana's D.J. White, center, goes up for a shot against Northwestern's Kevin Coble, left, and Sterling Williams during the first half (AP Photo) |
Hoosiers Score Victory at Northwestern, 85-82
Feb. 23, 2008
Final Stats I PDF Box Score | Notes
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Armon Bassett scored a season-high 24 points and the No. 15 Hoosiers earned an 85-82 victory over Northwestern on Saturday night. Interim head coach Dan Dakich earned his first victory patrolling the Hoosier sideline.
Indiana improved to 23-4 on the season and 12-2 in Big Ten play. Both marks are the best since the 1992-93 season when the Hoosiers started 24-3 and went 17-1 in Big Ten play.
D.J. White deflected a potential go-ahead layup by Northwestern's Michael Thompson, then hit two free throws to make it 85-82 with 5 seconds left. Thompson missed a pull-up 3-pointer at the buzzer, and the Hoosiers moved into a three-way tie for first with Wisconsin and Purdue.
Bassett played the full 40 minutes and finished one point away from matching his career-high set last season. He shot 7-of-12 from the field, 4-of-7 from beyond the arc and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe.
Jordan Crawford scored 21, and Eric Gordon scored 18, hitting 13-of-16 free throws. White added 16 points and 11 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the campaign.
Crawford went 4-of-5 from deep, matching his career-high (third time) and shot 6-of-7 overall in 29 minutes off the bench. He also added five assists, four rebounds and went a perfect 5-of-5 from the foul line.
Kevin Coble scored a career-high 37 points for Northwestern (7-18, 0-14), and his 3-pointer gave the Wildcats a 78-77 lead with 2:49 left, whipping their fans into a frenzy that only grew louder when Gordon charged into Nikola Baran.
But with Indiana leading 79-78, Northwestern had a chance to go ahead in the final minute, when the Hoosiers' Crawford attempted a long inbound pass near his own basket. Jeremy Nash intercepted the ball near midcourt, but Craig Moore missed a 3-pointer.
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Bassett then hit two free throws with 34 seconds left to make it 81-78. Coble then made two free throws to bring Northwestern with one with 21.6 seconds left.
Gordon hit two free throws to restore the lead and Northwestern missed a tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Wildcats led 37-35 at the half before the Hoosiers outscored Northwestern 50-45 in the second half on the way to the three-point victory.
Indiana hit 30 free throws for the second consecutive game. After connecting on 30-of-34 against Purdue, the Hoosiers hit 30-of-37 at Northwestern.
