Hoosiers fall in Big Ten tournament opener 73-58

INDIANAPOLIS (AP/WISH) - Northwestern's Michael Thompson scored 11 of his 16 points during a late run Thursday, leading the Wildcats past Indiana 73-58 in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.

Seventh-seeded Northwestern (20-12) wrapped up the 20-win season in school history and now faces No. 6 Purdue in Friday's quarterfinals. The Boilermakers, who shared the regular-season title with No. 5 Ohio State and No. 11 Michigan State, are the Big Ten's second seed.

Northwestern won its first conference tournament game since beating Michigan on March 10, 2005.

Verdell Jones scored 20 points to lead Indiana (10-21), which lost 12 of its last 13 games. The Hoosiers also have five straight losses in Big Ten tourney play.

"We are a step out. We've got the right pieces, the freshmen are making strides in the Big Ten. So hopefully, we can keep going," said Jones.

Indiana led for the first 32 minutes, but Thompson's flurry ignited a 20-5 run that turned a 45-39 Northwestern deficit into a 59-50 lead with 4:53 left and the Hoosiers never recovered.

"I think we just got stagnant out there, real tentative. They made some good runs, it was a game of spurts. Northwestern hit some good shots, they've got really good players," said Hoosier guard Jeremiah Rivers.

The Hoosiers finished with a record of 10-21. It's not good by any means, but it's an improvement over a year ago.

"We've just got to continue to build our will on both ends of the court, build onto the rebound mindset and culture we've started building this year and take that into different areas as bring back the program," said IU Head Coach Tom Crean.

Northwestern wasn't itself Thursday.

Its usually strong 3-point shooters struggled mightily, going 2-for-18 in the first half and finishing 7-for-31.

But Thompson's flurry, which included three 3s, finally got the Wildcats in sync.

Trailing 45-39 with 12:57 to go, the Wildcats' defense pressured the Hoosiers into five straight turnovers. Northwestern then converted those miscues into 10 unanswered points and finally took its first lead when Mike Capocci's two free throws with 7:58 to go to make it 47-45.

The Wildcats, behind Thompson, were just getting started.

Thompson's 3 with 6:10 to go made it 54-49, John Shurna made two more free throws, and then Thompson hit back-to-back 3s to give Northwestern a 62-52 lead with 4:09 left.

The Wildcats closed it out at the free throw line.

Shurna had 14 points for Northwestern and Jeremy Nash finished with 13.

Derek Elston had 10 points for Indiana.