Burke Leads No. 11 Michigan In OT Over Northwestern
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) -- Trey Burke, Zack Novak and Stu Douglass hit 3-pointers to start overtime Tuesday night and No. 11 Michigan beat Northwestern 67-55 for its fourth straight victory.
Burke scored 19 to lead the Wolverines (21-7, 11-4 Big Ten), who made 14 3-pointers and kept their Big Ten title hopes alive with a well-earned road victory.
Northwestern (16-11, 6-9), whose chances of getting to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history were dealt another blow, got 14 points from John Shurna, six below his Big Ten-leading average.
Shurna became the school's career scoring leader on Saturday, but managed only four points after halftime Tuesday night.
Burke sank a 3-pointer after an offensive rebound by Novak to give the Wolverines the early lead in overtime. And then two more 3s gave the Wolverines a nine-point lead.
Tim Hardaway Jr.'s 3-pointer with about a minute and a half left in regulation tied the game at 49. Both teams had a chance to go ahead in closing seconds but couldn't.
Northwestern missed two shots and the Burke rebounded the second one and called a timeout with 24.3 seconds to go. The Wolverines moved the ball around before Northwestern's Alex Marcotullio fouled with 4.7 seconds to go.
After both teams used timeouts, Burke put up a contested shot from deep that was well short, forcing the second overtime game of the season between the teams. Michigan won the first meeting 66-64 in Ann Arbor on Jan. 11.
Reggie Hearn, who had 11 points and 11 rebounds, hit a 3-pointer as Northwestern regrouped after three rapid-fire turnovers to give the Wildcats a 45-43 lead. And a Wolverines miss at the other end,. Shurna made a spin move in the lane and dropped the ball in the basket to make it a four-point lead.
But Burke and Hardaway hit 3-pointers for Michigan on either side of a basket Shurna made while falling down making it 49-49 tie with 1:25 left.
Michigan clamped down on defense in the second half and the Wolverines took their first lead of the second half when Matt Vogrich sank a 3-pointer from the corner. Seconds later a Northwestern turnover led to a fastbreak layup by Burke and the Wolverines led 41-38 with a little more than eight minutes left.
The Wildcats managed just three baskets on 11 attempts in the first 12 minutes of the second half, a span that saw the Big Ten's leading scorer Shurna go scoreless.
Hearn's hustle and six points during a closing 18-5 run over the final eight minutes drove the Wildcats to a 31-24 halftime lead.
The Wolverines hit six 3-pointers in the first half and had a 19-14 lead before Northwestern's half-court trapping defense started to bother them over the final half of the opening 20 minutes. The Wolverines shot just 8 for 24 overall in the first half, while Northwestern was good on 50 percent and outrebounded Michigan 20-10.
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