National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Northwestern 84, Nebraska 74
When: 7:00 PM ET, Thursday, February 2, 2012
Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Illinois
Officials: # Bo Boroski, # Mike Eades, # Ted Valentine
Attendance: 5239

John Shurna scored 28 points as Northwestern held off two big second-half rallies to down visiting Nebraska 84-74 on Thursday.

Drew Crawford added 21 points for the Wildcats (13-8, 3-6 Big Ten), who saw each of their starters hit at least two 3-pointers en route to a 14-for-32 effort behind the arc.

Northwestern jumped out to a 15-point lead at the break thanks to 10 3-pointers, but saw most of that advantage evaporate as Nebraska’s Bo Spencer scored 10 points during a 27-13 run to open the second half.

Crawford quickly answered with another 3-pointer as the Wildcats rolled off nine unanswered points to quickly re-establish a double-digit bulge.

Nebraska (11-10, 3-7) rallied once again after Northwestern made it a 12-point game as the Huskers forced four turnovers on the next five Wildcats possessions to move to within 75-72 with 1:39 remaining on a 3-pointer from Spencer.

But Nebraska could manage only one more field goal from that point on as Shurna hit a jumper and Northwestern closed out the game with seven free throws.

The Wildcats also improved to 9-1 this season when hitting at least nine 3-pointers.

Spencer finished with a team-high 24 points for the Cornhuskers, who missed out on their opportunity to win consecutive road games for the first time since the 2008-09 season despite shooting a season-best 11 for 26 from 3-point range.
Top Game Performances
 
Nebraska   Northwestern
Bo Spencer 24 Scoring John Shurna 28
Brandon Richardson 5 Assists Davide Curletti 8
Brandon Ubel 9 Rebounds Dave Sobolewski 6
Bo Spencer 4 Free Throws Made John Shurna 7
Brandon Richardson 2 Steals Drew Crawford 4
Jorge Brian Diaz 1 Blocks John Shurna 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Nebraska 74 51.9 11-26 7-9 19 26 2 6 13
Northwestern 84 45.1 14-31 24-29 17 26 3 10 8