Bench pushes Northwestern to school-record 20th victory

INDIANAPOLIS - Twenty-win seasons don't come around often at Northwestern.

About as frequently as the Wildcats' bench plays a crucial role in a Bill Carmody-era victory.

Yet there was NU on Thursday afternoon at Conseco Fieldhouse, crashing through the 20-win barrier for the first time in school annals with an extraordinary push from backups Davide Curletti, Alex Marcotullio and Mike Capocci.

Northwestern trailed by 8 early in the second half, but the bench fueled a remarkable run that ended with a 73-58 Big Ten tournament first-round win over an Indiana squad that defeated NU just five days before.

The unlikely trio listed above teamed for 20 points in 33 second-half minutes as seventh-seeded Northwestern (20-12), armed with its first conference tournament win since 2005, advanced to today's 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal against second-seeded Purdue (26-4).

The Wildcats tipped the Boilers 72-64 on Jan. 16 in their only regular-season meeting.

"(The subs) were instrumental in the win," Carmody said. "People have said, 'Well, your guys are playing too many minutes. Your guys are wearing down.'

"I sort of pooh-poohed that, if you will, but they might be right. So it was great to get these guys to contribute."

Junior guard Juice Thompson (16 points) hit three 3-pointers in a two-minute stretch late to help the Wildcats pull away, but the heavy lifting began with 15 minutes to play.

Indiana led 37-31 at that juncture as the Wildcats were 2 of 24 from 3-point range.

Marcotullio stepped forward first with a pair of 3-pointers, but Indiana answered and held a 45-39 margin at the TV timeout with 11:51 to go.

That's when Carmody inserted Capocci, a wiry junior forward from Glenbard East, and drew up a "pipe-dream play" for him.

As Thompson prepared to inbound the ball from the baseline, Capocci moped along casually in the lane and then suddenly flashed to the basket for a pass and a layup before the Hoosiers knew what happened.

"He thinks it up in the huddle and sometimes you don't think it's going to work when he's writing it out," Capocci said. "But give Coach a pat on the back. I just kind of looked around like I didn't know what I was doing and then went right in."

Capocci's layup fueled a 10-0 run that earned NU the lead for good. Meanwhile, the Wildcats' 1-3-1 zone trap did its part by forcing 10 turnovers in the final 12 minutes.

A John Shurna steal became a Marcotullio fastbreak layup. Capocci skied for a defensive rebound, drew a foul and made 2 free throws. A Curletti steal gave him 2 free throws as NU wound up with 29 points off Indiana's 19 turnovers.

Curletti wound up hitting all 6 of his free throws down the stretch en route to a career-high 12 points in a career-high 21 minutes.

Curletti played so much for Luka Mirkovic (who injured his back early and fouled out with 10:43 to go), he had ice wrapped around both knees and an ankle after the game.

"Usually they've been sort of stop-gap guys," Carmody said of his reserves. "And I couldn't take them out."

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<li><a href="/story/?id=365446">Carmody's strategy pays off for Northwestern<span class="date"> [3/11/10]</span></a></li>

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