Chase Audige had a game-high 24 points and reached the 1,000-point plateau for his career as Northwestern concluded nonconference play with a 63-58 win over visiting Brown on Thursday afternoon in Evanston, Ill.
Boo Buie added 15 points and four assists as the Wildcats (10-2) posted their fifth consecutive win. Buie moved into sole possession of fifth place on Northwestern’s career assists list with 345.
Kino Lilly Jr. had 17 points to lead Brown (7-6). Paxson Wojcik had 13 points on four 3-pointers, eight rebounds and four assists.
The Wildcats opened the second half on an 18-6 run, breaking open a game that had featured five ties and 14 lead changes.
Ty Berry’s 3-point play — a floater and subsequent free throw with 18:37 left in regulation — gave the hosts a 33-32 lead that they would never relinquish.
Berry was Northwestern’s third double-digit scorer with 12 points. Matthew Nicholson pulled down 11 rebounds.
The Bears shot just 34.8 percent in the second half and finished the game with 17 turnovers. Brown shot 42.2 percent overall.
During its winning run, Northwestern held Brown without a field goal for more than 6:27 in the midst. Audige scored nine straight points during a 10-1 run, reaching his career milestone on a stepback jumper at the 16:22 mark. He finished the game at 1,012 for a career that began with one season at William & Mary.
Aaron Cooley’s layup with 11:01 left broke Brown’s field goal drought and brought the Bears within eight. A late 5-0 run made it a 55-50 game, but Buie set up Nicholson for a dagger alley-oop dunk with 1:31 left.
Buie’s drive for a layup capped Northwestern’s 6-0 run to start the game. Brown was scoreless until a Lilly Jr. triple at 16:38, going 0 for 4 with two turnovers and two blocked shots to start.
The Bears quickly took an 8-6 lead as Lilly hit back-to-back 3s and set up an Nana Owusu-Anane layup. The edge grew to 17-13 after Wojcik and Perry Cowan hit from deep.
An Audige triple and five straight points led Northwestern’s 8-0 run to take a 21-17 lead, but the visitors struck back with a 7-2 response that led into the final first-half media timeout. Kalu Anya’s layup capped the run.
Nicholson and Buie put together back-to-back buckets, but Brown was 5 of 7 from the field to close the half and took a 31-30 lead on an Owusu-Anane dunk.
–Field Level Media