Out of the Cellar: NU 53 Penn State 51

Kevin Coble got his first career double double against Penn State today as the Northwestern Wildcats looked to roll over the Lions, but it took some luck and some heads up defensive play under that basket to give NU their 2nd Big 10 Win in 2007.

To begin, Bill Carmody sat down another starter today

Even though he hadn't practiced this week because of his knees, Senior Ivan Tolic got the nod over Vince Scott, who had been slumping of late, at center.

Tolic hit for two early layups and had a couple more assists as he gave the Cats 12 minutes, buarding Penn State's backup forward Milos Bogetic.

Scott did come off the bench for 28 minutes, scoring 2 points, and adding 3 assists, 2 rebolunds, and 2 steals.

But Vince's contributions included teaming up with Sterling Williams to help slow down Penn State's top scorer today, Geary Claxton [shown right].

Williams only scored 3 [he missed 4 treys] but added 6 rebounds and 3 steals to NU's efforts. He also chalked up one assist, generally playing his game on the defensive end of the floor.

What should be the ESPN Highlight shot of the game was Craig Moore's three as the shot clock ran out. [No that's not the picture of the play at left, but that's how the Lions guarded him all day.]

Playing off the bench again, Moore played with fire at times, and did hit 2 threes, and added 2 offensive rebounds to the Cats totals.

Tallking about rebounds, the Cats pulled down 28 to PSU's 30. they actually out rebounded the Lions 21-20 on the defensive end, and scored several putback baskets. NU also had 21 points from turnovers, 12 on fast breaks, and 11 from the bench.

But the top two scorers were again the top of the alphabetic order, Kevin Coble and Tim Doyle.

Doyle led all scorers early, but 4 fouls  limited his play to 28 minutes. He still finished with 15 points on 7 of 9 shooting, adding 3 rebounds and 2 assists. He had several close in looks early and took advantage of the Penn State defense to make those easy layups.

Doyle's experience also helped at the end of the game, where teh Cats were up by 2 after a Jeff Ryan freethrow, but Penn State got the ball after a miss .Claxton Geary grabbed the rebound, but missed a layup which was then grabbed under the basket by Doyle. He threw it way down court as the clock ran out sealing the NU win.

Recording his first career double-double, Kevin Coble was almost unstopable at times - scoring 16 points, he was 6 of 11 from the floor and 3 of 6 from outside the arc. His 10 rebounds, including one on offense, added  to the afternoon, and 2 blocks, a steal and 3 assists in 34 minutes, solidified his position as NU's top frosh.

Jeff Ryan also started, but his contribuiton was mainly on defense, with a rebound and a steal to go with 1 point .Also scoring for NU was Jason Okrzesik, who started at point, but only hi 2 3-s for 6 points along with 2 rebounds, 2 steals and 4 assists.

NU forced 9 of PSU's 14 turnovers, but had 15 turnovers on 9 steals themselves. At one point they had 4 straight TOs.

The Cats still finished with 2 Blocks and 9 Steals against the Lions, who came in looking to break their long Big 10 losing string.

NU held on at home to win it.

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Bill Carmody's Post Game comments [in italics] are taken from the WGN Post Game Show
-- are based on questions from Dave Eanet and may have been edited for clarity.
Official Game Statistics from NU Sports Official Site

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Story (c) 2006 by PurpleWildcats.com/Purple Reign
Interview comments (c) 2006 by WGN Radio