Northwestern rallies, downs Houston Baptist 65-58
It took some prodding by his coaches, but after Northwestern was bullied by Houston Baptist in the first half on Friday night, the biggest man in Welsh-Ryan Arena did something about it.
Seven-foot, 270-pound center Alex Olah scored 18 of his 21 points after the break, and the Wildcats got off the mat to take a hard-earned 65-58 decision against the stubborn Huskies in the season opener for both teams.
Northwestern trailed 31-28 at halftime before head coach Chris Colllins and his staff implored Olah to take a stand. The junior proceeded to knock down 5-of-8 field goals and 7-of-9 free throw attempts. He also finished with team-highs of 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.
"Usually in the past, when Alex has struggled early, he has a hard time getting himself out of that," Collins said. "At halftime, for him to regroup . . . We don't win without that production."
The Wildcats took a 43-42 lead on Olah's follow-up six minutes into the second half. Forward Sanjay Lumpkin followed with another lay-in, and the Huskies were unable to pull closer than two points the rest of the way.
"(Olah) got so many of his points off offensive rebounds," Houston Baptist head coach Ron Cottrell said. "He's so big and strong. We did a good job against him in the first half, but he's tough to contain the whole game."
Northwestern freshman forward Vic Law scored 13 points, while freshman guard Bryant McIntosh contributed 12 points and a game-high six assists off the bench.
"Their freshman corps is special," Cottrell said. "I mean, they're good now, but in two years, they're going to be really, really good. For (Collins) to get Chicago kids to come here and play his system, they can have a special program soon."
Guard Anthony Odunsi and center Ricmonds Vilde paced the Huskies with 13 points each. Tyler Russell added 10 more.
"Our guys really competed hard and stood up to what we thought would be a really physical Big Ten team that would come after us," Cottrell said. "I was pleased by the way we rebounded. We played at the level that we had to play to have a chance to win the game."
Picked to finish last in the 13-team Southland Conference in the preseason coaches' poll, Houston Baptist had its way for much of the first half. It also surprised the Wildcats with a new offense that required the home team to make adjustments at halftime.
The Huskies scored 16 points on layups in the first half. They led by as many as 10 points with a 12-2 lead when Russell drained two free throws at the 15:37 mark.
"I give Houston Baptist a lot of credit," Collins said. "They have older guys, and in the first half, their physicality knocked us back."
"We can play a whole lot better, but I'm not going to apologize for winning. I never will."
TIP-INS
Houston Baptist: On the heels of a 6-25 record, the Huskies figure to be more competitive in their 50th anniversary season. The team returns its top scorer (Russell), top rebounder (Vilde) and top ball distributor (Marcel Smith) from a year ago. All three are seniors. "They're going to win a lot more games than last year, I'll tell you that right now," Collins said.
Northwestern: The Wildcats survived on a night when top guns JerShon Cobb and Tre Demps combined for six points on 2-of-15 in the field. "If those guys went 2-for-15 shooting last year, we would have scored about 30 points in the game," Collins said. "That was a big positive -- that we found a way to win with two of our main guys struggling from the field."
UP NEXT
Northwestern travels to Brown on Monday.
Houston Baptist hosts Hillsdale Baptist on Monday.