Dec. 4, 1999
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern (1-5) could not overcome a poor shooting day and lost to La Salle (4-1), 62-44, at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Freshman Winston Blake (Plano, Texas/Senior) scored a career-high 14 points to lead the Wildcats.
La Salle took advantage of a slow start by the ?Cats to build an early 11-2 lead. Northwestern battled back and sliced the lead to three on a Blake jumper with 7:52 left in the half. The Explorers pushed the lead back to nine before settling for a 28-22 lead at halftime. Defense kept the Wildcats close, as they outrebounded La Salle 22-14 and held the visitors to 33 percent shooting (8-of-24) from the floor.
The Explorers put the game away early in the second half, going on a 17-2 run over an eight-minute span to take a 45-26 lead with 11:13 remaining. Blake and sophmore David Newman (Des Moines, Iowa/Hoover), who finished with 10 points, combined for 15 of the team?s 22 second-half points.
Northwestern returns to action next Saturday, hosting Nicholls State at 1 p.m.