Nov. 18, 2011
Box Score
Site: Charleston, S.C. (TD Arena)
Score: Northwestern 69, Tulsa 65
Records: NU (3-0), Tulsa (3-1)
Next NU Event: Sunday, Nov. 20 -- vs. Seton Hall (Charleston, S.C.), 7:30 p.m. CT
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Drew Crawford scored 20 of his game-high 28 points in the first half as Northwestern advanced to the championship game of the DirecTV Charleston Classic presented by Foster Grant with a 69-65 win over Tulsa Friday afternoon at TD Arena.
John Shurna added 15 points and a team-high six rebounds. NU faces Seton Hall, a 78-70 winner over St. Joseph's, in Sunday's title game.
The Wildcats held a commanding 27-4 advantage in points off turnovers in the contest thanks to forcing the Golden Hurricane into 16 miscues while committing only six themselves.
Neither team led by more than four points over a tightly contested opening 20 minutes of play. The contest featured six ties and nine lead changes over the back and forth first half of play.
After scoring 17 second-half points in Thursday's victory over LSU, Crawford picked up right where he left off. The junior forward connected on eight of 12 field goal attempts, including three of four from 3-point range, in scoring 20 points in the first stanza.
Tulsa's largest lead came at 20-16 and again at 28-24 before NU went on an 8-0 run to take its largest advantage at 32-28. The squads would eventually go in the locker rooms knotted 37-37.
Five straight points to open the second half gave Northwestern its largest lead, but Tulsa immediately countered with five in a row of its own to re-tie the game. However, the Wildcats would hold the Golden Hurricane scoreless for the next four minutes and four seconds as 3-pointers by Shurna and Crawford pushed the lead back up to six, NU's largest advantage of the contest.
Tulsa refused to go away, though, as it tied the game at 54 apiece. The 'Cats responded with an 8-2 run capped by a triple by Crawford with 5:08 left to extend the margin back up to six.
The Golden Hurricane whittled the Northwestern lead back down to two with two minutes remaining, but Shurna converted a huge three-point play with 1:45 left to put NU up 65-60. Jordan Clarkson responded with a triple on the other end to cut the Wildcats' lead back down to two.
Shurna converted one of two from the charity stripe to make it 66-63 'Cats with 49.7 seconds left before Dave Sobolewski came up with a steal on the other end. Davide Curletti, Reggie Hearn and Sobolewski each made one free throw down the stretch and Northwestern got defensive stops on three straight possessions in the final minute of play to seal the win.
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