Northwestern holds on for 74-70 victory at Baylor
WACO, Texas — Reggie Hearn had 17 points with 10 rebounds before fouling out and Northwestern snapped a two-game losing streak with a 74-70 win Tuesday night at Baylor, which was coming off a win at Kentucky.
Hearn made two layups for the Wildcats when they opened the second half with an 11-1 run. Northwestern (7-2) barely hung on after building an 18-point lead.
Baylor (5-3) was within 70-67 when Pierre Jackson made two free throws with 23 seconds left after a midcourt turnover by Dave Sobolewski following an inbound pass. But Sobolewski made a free throw with 17 seconds left, after Northwestern had missed six free throws in a row.
Jackson had 18 points and A.J. Walton had 11 for Baylor.
Drew Crawford had 19 points for Northwestern, which had five players in double-figure scoring. Sobolewski had 13 points, Jared Swopshire had 12 and Alex Olah scored 10.
It was Baylor’s second consecutive home loss, with its big win at Kentucky in between.
The Bears had won 29 consecutive non-conference home games over a nearly four-year span before a 63-59 loss to College of Charleston on Nov. 24. In their only other game since, they won 64-55 at then-No. 8 Kentucky 64-55 on Saturday to snap the Wildcats’ 55-game winning streak at Rupp Arena.
Northwestern had a 54-36 lead with 11 minutes left on a 3-pointer by Sobolewski.
The Wildcats were up 66-55 with 3:10 left when Olah, who went into the game shooting only 27 percent from the free throw line, made two free throws. But a minute later, right after Hearn fouled out, Olah missed two attempts to start Northwestern’s stretch of six consecutive misses.
Swopshire’s reverse layup with 1:03 left made it 70-63, and his key free throw with 9 seconds put the Wildcats up 72-67.
Isaiah Austin, Baylor’s 7-foot freshman, made a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left when he quickly regained control after Sobolweski deflected the ball on his first chance.
Northwestern had lost its previous two games at home, a 20-point loss to Maryland before being upset 50-44 by Illinois-Chicago on Saturday.
The Wildcats will play only three of their first 15 games away from home, all in Texas. They won both games played in the South Padre Island Invitational on Thanksgiving weekend.
This was only the second meeting between Baylor and Northwestern, and came exactly a year after the Bears won 69-41 at Evanston.
Northwestern took a 35-32 halftime lead when Sobolweski hit a 3-pointer from the corner in front of the Baylor bench with 2 seconds left.