NU's Shurna lights up NIU in second half
DEKALB Call John Shurna an underachiever.
After Northwestern finished off its 97-78 victory in Friday's opener before 4,001 at Northern Illinois, Shurna needed two stitches to fix a cut between his mouth and nose.
Yeah, two whole stitches.
The junior forward from Glenbard West took no small amount of ribbing for that.
As for Shurna's floor game, he only underachieved for a half.
Shurna had 1 basket at the break, but NU called a play for him to open the second half.
Shurna drilled a 3-pointer on that possession ... and the one after that ... and a bunch more as he kept scooting further beyond the 3-point arc.
Shurna hit a career-high seven of eight 3-pointers after the break and finished with a career-high-tying 31 points along with 9 rebounds.
“He just had a phenomenal night,” said NIU coach Ricardo Patton. “If he can continue to play that way, he'll play his way right into the league.”
Conveniently enough, the Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers had scouts stationed under the basket at which NU shot in the second half.
The Wildcats' point total was the program's highest since a 97-93 overtime win over No. 8 Michigan on March 12, 1994.
Drew Crawford chipped in 20 points in 27 minutes while Juice Thompson added 15 points and 6 assists.
Perhaps more impressive, fifth-year senior Jeff Ryan came off the bench and offered a huge boost after Northwestern missed 13 of its first 14 shots to fall behind from the start.
Ryan, who tore up his left knee in last year's opener with NIU, shot-faked and hit a 15-foot pullup jumper to give the Wildcats their first lead with 11 minutes left in the first half.
He added a 3-pointer later in the half his first 3 since Jan. 2, 2008 as the Wildcats never let the Huskies get closer than 2 the rest of the way.
“I'm not really thinking about (the knee),” Ryan said. “Of course there's times where it might look a little scary to people watching the game, but the knee feels great.”
Ryan, along with Alex Marcotullio, also played at the top of the 1-3-1 trap that forced many of NIU's 19 turnovers.
Between the miscues and Northwestern's 16 offensive rebounds (7 by Luka Mirkovic), NIU had little chance to defeat the first Big Ten team to play at the Convocation Center.
Xavier Silas led the Huskies with 25 points, but 10 came in the final 3:47 after NU built a 91-66 lead.
Junior-college transfer Tim Toler added 12 points, including 6 in the first three minutes, while freshman center Nate Rucker had 11 points and 6 rebounds in his college debut.