Feb. 23, 2008

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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Kevin Coble scored a career-high 37 points and Northwestern battled No. 15 Indiana in a classic Saturday evening at Welsh-Ryan Arena, but Wildcats came up on the short end of an 85-82 decision.

Northwestern trailed by just one when Michael Thompson converted on a layup with 14 seconds remaining. The Wildcats then trapped Eric Gordon the backcourt and forced a traveling violation, giving the Wildcats the ball back with a chance to go for the win.

Following a timeout, Thompson drove the ball from the top of the key and got to the rim, but was unable to convert over the out-stretched arm of Indiana's D.J. White.

White was then fouled and hit two free throws to make it 85-82 with 5 seconds left. Thompson pushed the ball up the court and launched a pull-up 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it came up just short.

Coble connected on 12 of 16 field goal attempts, including five of six from 3-point range while making all eight of his free throw attempts.

Armon Bassett led Indiana with 24 points, Jordan Crawford scored 21, and Eric Gordon scored 18, hitting 13 of 16 free throws. White added 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Coble's 3-pointer gave the Wildcats a 78-77 lead with 2:49 left, whipping their fans into a frenzy that only grew louder when Gordon charged into Nikola Baran.

But with Indiana leading 79-78, Northwestern had a chance to go ahead in the final minute, when the Hoosiers' Crawford attempted a long inbound pass near his own basket. Jeremy Nash intercepted the ball near midcourt, but Craig Moore missed a 3-pointer.

Bassett then hit two free throws with 34 seconds left to make it 81-78. Coble then made two free throws to bring Northwestern with one with 21.6 seconds left.

Gordon hit two free throws to restore the lead and Northwestern missed a tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The Wildcats led throughout the majority of the first half, claiming their biggest lead of nine at 25-16 on a 3-pointer by Jason Okrzesik. Indiana would rally back to cut NU's lead to 37-35 by the break.

Northwestern finished with an impressive ratio of 22 assists to only seven turnovers, while the Hoosiers turned the ball over 17 times.

Coble's 37-point effort ranks as a tie for the eighth-highest scoring game in school history and the most since Evan Eschmeyer scored 37 against Penn State during the 1997-98 season. It was Coble's third game this season in which he scored 29 points or more.

Thompson added 15 points for the Wildcats while no committing a turnover in the full 40 minutes of action. Ivan Peljusic contributed a career-high seven assists.

It was NU's first loss when scoring 80 points or more since falling 86-84 to Siena Nov. 22, 1997.

Northwestern returns to action at 8 p.m. Central time Tuesday when it travels to Michigan.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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