Sobolewski Leads Northwestern Past Iowa 83-64
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Freshman Dave Sobolewski scored a season-high 23 points, John Shurna added 17 and Northwestern won its third straight, beating Iowa 83-64 on Thursday night.
Reggie Hearn added 16 points, and all five starters scored in double figures for the Wildcats (15-8, 5-6 Big Ten) in an easy victory.
Northwestern built a nine-point halftime lead and then blew this one open, matching its longest conference winning streak since a three-game run late in the 2008-09 season.
Sobolewski passed his previous high by three points. Shurna set the tone in the early going, and the Wildcats shot just over 56 percent overall while hitting 13 of 25 3-pointers.
Aaron White led Iowa with 17 points and 12 rebounds, but the Hawkeyes (13-12, 5-7) were simply overmatched.
Shurna scored 11 points in the first half as Northwestern built a 38-29 lead, hitting three 3-pointers and wowing the crowd with a neat block and an acrobatic layup in the closing minutes.
Drew Crawford added nine of his 11 points, and Sobolewski and Hearn had eight apiece.
Matt Gatens, Iowa's leading scorer, was a nonfactor in the early going, with just five of his 15 points in the half. His only basket was a 3-pointer that cut Northwestern's lead to 24-23 with about 7 minutes left, but the Wildcats responded by scoring 12 of the next 14 points.
Shurna had the fans roaring when he nailed a 3-pointer and then raced the other way to block Gatens' 3 from the corner. Hearn then hit one from long range to make it 36-25 with 2:23 left.
Shurna had them cheering again in the closing minute when he went back-door and buried a right-handed reverse layup while getting knocked to the floor by Josh Oglesby. He missed the free throw, but with a 38-27 lead, Northwestern was in a good spot.
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