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N'western Ends Big Ten Skid

Northwestern coach Bill Carmody had only been here for 10 of the losses, and he was already sick of hearing about "the streak."

Ditto for Jitim Young, who was a junior in high school when the ugliness started. And Tavaras Hardy? He'd been here for all 32 regular-season Big Ten losses, so you KNOW how he felt about it.

"We were really getting sick of it," Hardy said. "This is something we'd been waiting a long time for."

Well wait no more, Wildcats. Winston Blake scored 20 points and Young added 16 on Saturday as Northwestern stunned No. 14 Iowa 69-61 and snapped its 32-game losing streak in regular-season Big Ten games.

The Wildcats (9-15, 1-10 Big Ten) hadn't won a regular-season conference game since beating Penn State on Feb. 6, 1999, the longest Big Ten losing streak since 1946.

"I can't tell you how happy I am for our guys because they've labored all year," Carmody said. "I told them at halftime, you have to get over this hump, so let's just do it."

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Game Summary

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  • Do it they did, limiting Iowa (17-6, 6-4) to seven field goals in the last 12:05 and not losing their cool even though Young and Collier Drayton played almost the entire second half with four fouls.

    Hardy picked up his fourth foul with 5:59 left, fouling out with 29 seconds left. Drayton and Young were still on the floor when the game ended. Drayton finished with nine points and had a career-high nine rebounds for Northwestern.

    As the final buzzer sounded, the Northwestern fans - outnumbered in the stands by boisterous Iowa supporters - rushed the floor, piling on the Wildcats players and slapping their hands.

    "It feels great," said Blake, who scored all of his points in the second half. "My whole body's tingling."

    Dean Oliver led Iowa with 20 points, and Reggie Evans added 18 points and 14 rebounds. But it wasn't nearly enough as the Hawkeyes shot just 37 percent (22-60) for the game, turned the ball over 14 times and were 5-of-11 from the free throw line in the first half.

    It was the Hawkeyes' second game without leading scorer Luke Recker and their second loss. Recker is out indefinitely with a fractured right knee cap.

    But even Recker might not have been able to help Iowa. Not with Northwestern playing like a team possessed.

    The Wildcats played a frenzied, up-tempo game, diving for every loose ball, hounding the Hawkeyes like hungry dogs and running the floor like they were doing wind sprints.

    "I don't think we were overconfident, we just didn't come to play," said Ryan Hogan, who had eight points. "They just out-toughed us today."

    Iowa took a 35-33 lead, its first since the opening minute of the game, on Glen Worley's 10-foot jumper with 13:53 left to play. The Hawkeyes looked as if they might pull away when Hogan followed with a quick jumper to make it 37-33.

    But Northwestern regrouped.

    "Down the stretch, we were all talking, to keep guys calm, keep doing what we'd been doing," Hardy said. "Guys kept their heads."

    Blake hit a 3-pointer, and the Wildcats were off on a 17-4 run. The spurt included back-to-back 3s by Young and Jason Burke, and gave Northwestern a 50-41 lead with 7:30 left.

    The Hawkeyes never threatened again.

    "I'm sure there's quite a few people laughing at us now," said Oliver, who said earlier in the week that Iowa would be the "laughing stock" of the Big Ten if the Hawkeyes lost to lowly Northwestern.

    "If I was a fan, I'd be laughing at us. We didn't respect them the way we should have."

    Other teams will have to take notice of Northwestern now. Though this was the Wildcats' first Big Ten victory, it was their second win over a ranked team this season.

    They beat then-No. 16 Southern California on Dec. 27.

    And while the Wildcats would have taken any Big Ten victory, breaking the losing streak against a ranked team made it extra sweet.

    "It's always good to beat a ranked team," Blake said. "When you've got that ranking next to a team, it just shows you can play with a team of that caliber."

    ©2001 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

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