The men's basketball team (1-3) fell to the Big Ten's Northwestern (3-0) at home Saturday night, 73-64, after a fierce second-half comeback. Northwestern's Craig Moore scored a career-high 31 points, and connected on a Pizzitola and Northwestern-record nine three-pointers for the Wildcats. The Bears could not overcome a 22-point halftime deficit, as Moore scored 24 points and shot eight-of-nine from three-point range.
"We knew he was a great shooter going into the game," said tri-captain Chris Skrelja '09. "But we had some defensive mishaps. We started off in zone, catering to his specialty. Switching to man coverage in the second half helped us control the outside shot."
Brown played Northwestern tight early on in the game. With 10 minutes left in the half, and the score at 20-15, Moore caught on fire. He tallied four buckets from downtown in a seven-minute span. The Wildcats only needed a few touches to find an open Moore, who could not miss a shot. The Wildcats shot 60 percent from the floor and 68.8 percent from behind the arc in the first half. The Wildcats controlled the ball, with no turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play, and capitalized off of nine first-half turnovers by the Bears.
Matt Mullery '10 and tri-captain Peter Sullivan '11 lead the Bears with eight points apiece heading into the half, with Brown down 48-26.
The Bears shot a solid 55 percent from the floor, but with only 20 field goal attempts, compared to 30 for Northwestern, Brown was unable to create a lot of scoring opportunities. There was a mountain left to climb to get Brown back in the game, and the Bears came out with a new intensity in the opening minutes of the second half to pull the game back to within reach.
"We were more aggressive, confident and stronger," Skrelja said. "We took the ball to the basket north and south and passed the ball into Mullery who was hitting everything. We believed we could win."
Brown opened up the half with an 11-2 scoring run. Adrian Williams '11 kicked off the run with a three from the right corner. Skrelja scored on a step-back dribble from the free throw line. Sullivan and Mullery found a hot spot from the left wing and each knocked down a three-pointer to bring the score to 50-37 with 17:37 left.
The Bears began to penetrate the Wildcat defense and found open looks when Sullivan and Williams each connected on a three. Brown fought back for the second time, going on a 16-6 run in a seven-minute stretch.
"We started moving a lot more,"Sullivan said. "We were standing around in the first half, going one-on-one. We picked up the defensive intensity leading to some fast breaks and some good shots. Unfortunately, it ended up being too little too late."
With the shot clock winding down, Skrelja drove to the basket from the left baseline for two with 10:52 remaining. Sullivan kept on attacking the basket as a Northwestern defender fouled him hard. He hit two of two from the charity stripe to narrow the lead.
Northwestern brought the ball up the floor and was almost too patient, as a player was forced to take an off-balance shot from the left elbow as the shot clock wound down. The tough defense was not enough, as his shot found the bottom of the net.
Tri-captain Scott Friske '09 answered with a nice post move, faking right and laying it in left, and followed that up with another basket on a nice left-handed drive with just over five minutes left in the game to pull the Bears to within eight, 66-58.
After a Northwestern hook shot fell short, Brown cleared the ball out and Skrelja drove hard to the hoop to pull the game to within six with 4:43 remaining. But the Wildcats would not let the Bears get any closer, extending their lead to 13 after scoring three consecutive baskets with two and a half minutes remaining. Northwestern ultimately closed out the game with a 73-64 win.
"We definitely grew as a team, learning to overcome adversity," Skrelja said. "The physicality of the game will prepare us for conference. We definitely need to be more mentally prepared, realizing every possession is important."
Brown finished the game shooting 62 percent from the field and 60 percent from behind the three-point arc. The Bears' second-half shooting was remarkable, as they connected on 70 percent of their shots. The Bears coughed up the ball 17 times in the game while the Wildcats took care of it, with only four turnovers for the forty minutes of play.
The Bears had a balanced scoring effort as Mullery (17), Skrelja (10), Sullivan (16), and Williams (13) each scored in double figures. The bench scored three points from Garrett Leffelman '11 on a trey. The starting five, which also consists of Friske, all received significant playing time last season, while the bench is young and in the process of warming up to the speed and physicality of the college game.
"Right now they're on a shorter leash, a little hesitant," Sullivan said. "Once we get more comfortable playing together in games, rather than practice, we'll start to get contributions we need."
Bruno fought hard on the glass and out-rebounded the taller Wildcats 24-17.
The Bears will look to even their record with two games at home against Army and Eastern Michigan over Thanksgiving break.
