Wildcats' Late Surge Comes Up Short Against No. 17/16 Purdue

2/16/2016 8:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Demps Moves into 11th Place on NU's Career Scoring List

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Despite a second-half surge, Northwestern fell to Purdue, 71-61, Tuesday night at Mackey Arena.

Tre Demps led Northwestern (17-10, 5-9 B1G) with 16 points, while Bryant McIntosh and Alex Olah chipped in 14 and 12 points, respectively. Purdue (21-6, 9-5 B1G) looked to A.J. Hammons for baskets Tuesday night, as the senior scored a game-high 18 points.

Northwestern was 14-of-25 (56.0 percent) from the field in the second half to overcome its 35.8 shooting performance in the opening 20 minutes and finish the game hitting 44.6 percent (25-of-56) of its shots.

The Wildcats managed to hold Purdue to 23-of-60 (38.3 percent) from the field, but the Boliermakers were able to get to the free throw line to score 21 of their 71 points.

After missing its first eight shot attempts to begin the game, Northwestern hit on four of its next five shots to cut into Purdue's lead, 14-9, at the under-12 media timeout.

With the 'Cats trailing, 35-21, McIntosh and Demps combined to score six unanswered points for Northwestern to go into the locker room down, 35-27.

Demps scored 10 of his 16 points in the opening 20 minutes, which included a bucket at the 4:11 mark of the first half that moved the senior guard past Shon Morris into 11^th place on Northwestern's career scoring list.

Northwestern's momentum from the end of the first half carried over into the second stanza. The Wildcats used an 8-2 run to begin the period and make it a two-possession game, 39-35, with 14:17 left to play.

Foul trouble plagued the Wildcats in the second half as five players had three-or-more fouls with over nine minutes to play. The Boilermakers took advantage of the Wildcats' foul trouble by hitting 10-of-12 free throws in the first 12 minutes of the half. Purdue was 3-of-12 from the field during that same stretch.

With just over seven minutes to play, McIntosh found Joey van Zegeren for a dunk that brought the contest to 56-50. Back-to-back 3-point field goals from Ryan Cline and Johnny Hill and a layup by Hammons would stretch the Boilermakers lead to 64-50 with less than five minutes to play.

Olah scored four consecutive points in the final stretch of the half and a pair of free throws from McIntosh after a Purdue basket brought the deficit to seven, 66-59, but that's as close as NU would come to getting even.

Northwestern will take an eight-day hiatus from playing games and return to the hardwood on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at Michigan.

Northwestern Notes at Purdue – Feb. 16, 2016
• The teams came into the game with Purdue holding a slim 12-11 series lead going back to the 2001-02 season.
• This was the lone regular-season meeting between the teams.
• Senior guard Tre Demps scored 16 points in the game, moving him past Shon Morris into 11^th place on Northwestern's career scoring list. Demps currently has 1,419 career points.
• Northwestern has two members of its team who played in high school in Indiana. Greensburg native and sophomore guard Bryant McIntosh posted 14 points and team highs of five rebounds and four assists in the contest. Senior center Alex Olah, who prepped at Traders Point Christian Academy, scored 12 points in the contest.
• Purdue (#17 AP/#16 Coaches poll) represented Northwestern's seventh ranked opponent of the season. In the Big Ten, only Iowa (9) and Michigan (8) have faced more ranked teams this season.
• Northwestern committed only six turnovers in the game. It is the team's second-lowest total in a Big Ten game and third-lowest overall in a game this season. The Wildcats had a season-low four turnovers vs. Penn State on Jan. 16.