Northwestern Sets Records With 55-8 1st Half, 96-31 Victory
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) -- Vic Law scored 18 points and Northwestern followed a seven-day layoff with its largest margin of victory in program history, beating Chicago State, 96-31, on Monday night.
Northwestern (6-4) also established a program record for the fewest points yielded in a half in the shot-clock era as they raced out to a 55-8 lead at halftime.
Bolstered by torrid 3-point shooting and a swarming defense, the Wildcats scored the first 15 points of the contest and added a 21-0 run before halftime. Northwestern shot 9-for-16 from behind the arc and had assists on 14 of its 16 first-half buckets.
Aaron Falzon added 15 points for the Wildcats, who began a stretch of three games in six days with a season-high for points and assists (20).
Chicago State (2-11), which had scoreless droughts of 4 minutes, 40 seconds and 6 minutes, 40 seconds, made just 2-of-19 shots and committed 15 turnovers before the half.
Cameron Bowles scored eight points for the Cougars, who were 8-of-40 shooting.
BIG PICTURE
Chicago State: The Cougars haven't shied away from facing experienced competition. Northwestern is one of 13 opponents this season that played in a postseason tourney in the 2016-17 campaign, including six NCAA Tournament schools.
Northwestern: The Wildcats defense continued a strong stretch, holding Chicago State to 20-percent shooting from the field and forcing 25 turnovers. Northwestern entered Monday having yielded 61 points a contest in its previous four games after allowing 78 per in its first five efforts.
UP NEXT
Chicago State hosts Bradley on Saturday.
Northwestern hosts Valparaiso on Thursday.
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