PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Bryant McIntosh scored 17 points and Tre Demps added 16 as Northwestern opened up its Big Ten season on Tuesday afternoon with a 51-47 victory over conference newcomer Rutgers at Rutgers Athletic Center.
The contest was the first ever for the Scarlet Knights as a member of the Big Ten Conference.
The Wildcats entered the game holding their previous three opponents to 33.9 percent shooting from the field and that trend continued Tuesday at Rutgers finished at 30.2 percent (16-53).
Rutgers got out to an early advantage as a pair of 3-pointers allowed the hosts to take a 10-5 lead at the first media timeout. The Scarlet Knights extended their lead to seven on a pair of free throws by Junior Etou as Northwestern was just 3-of-10 from the field to start the contest over the opening 8 minutes of play.
The Wildcats would get a boost off the bench from JerShon Cobb to returned to the NU lineup after missing the previous five games due to injury. The redshirt senior connected on a 3-pointer from the corner, giving him 6 points, and pulling the 'Cats within 17-13 at the midway point of the half.
Two more triples - by Demps and McIntosh - made it a 9-0 run and gave Northwestern its first lead of the game with 7 minutes left in the first period.
The Wildcats connected on six of their first 12 attempts from beyond the arch in the opening half after Sanjay Lumpkin connected to make it 25-20 in the visitors' favor. Demps finished the opening 20 minutes of play with a game-high 10 points after getting to the rim and scoring on a layup as the stanza expired, giving NU a 27-22 advantage at the break.
Rutgers closed to within two on a pair of occasions early on in the second half, but Scottie Lindsey hit two free throws and then a triple and Demps scored in the lane to push the lead to nine, 40-31, with 12:30 remaining.
The advantage was 44-35 with 10:45 to go when both teams went into a prolonged offensive drought. The 'Cats couldn't find a way to snap out of their struggles on the offensive end, but the lead was still seven until Myles Mack trimmed it to three, 44-41, with 1:36 left following two free throws and a layup.
Rutgers twice had the ball down by three with a chance to get within one or tie the game, but the Wildcats got defensive stops both times. McIntosh finally broke NU's long drought by hitting one free throw with 29.7 seconds left to make it a four-point game.
The Scarlet Knights got a layup with 22.2 seconds remaining to make it 45-43, but McIntosh hit two from the charity stripe one second later. Bishop Daniels was fouled on the other end but could only hit one of two from the line and McIntosh found Demps for a breakaway dunk to push the lead to five and seal the victory.
The Wildcats return to action at 7:30 p.m. Sunday when they open the home portion of their Big Ten season against No. 4/4 Wisconsin at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tickets are available at NUsports.com or by calling 888-GO-PURPLE.
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter and Instagram, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook and sign up to receive promotional text alerts for the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!