Nick Martinelli continued his scoring run with 27 points on 10-for-14 shooting and Northwestern beat Illinois-Chicago 83-74 on Tuesday in Evanston.
Jalen Leach scored 16 points, Ty Berry had 13 and reserve Luke Hunger added 10 for the Wildcats (2-1).
Javon Jackson scored 17 points, Sasa Ciani 15, Filip Skobalj 13 and Ahmad Henderson II 12 for the Flames (2-1).
Ciani’s three-point play with 1:35 left brought the Flames within 74-70 before Martinelli responded with his own three-point play. Martinelli closed with a 4-for-6 effort at the foul line in the last 39 seconds and Berry made a pair to seal it.
Berry’s 3-pointer with 11:51 remaining gave the Wildcats a 52-42 advantage which marked the first double-digit lead for either team. Skobalj made a 3 for the Flames to get within 59-52, but Martinelli responded with a 3-pointer 25 seconds later to go back up 10.
The Wildcats led 31-29 at halftime. The Flames had the largest lead in the first half at 12-6 after Joshua Reaves made a 3 with 12:46 before intermission.
On Monday, Martinelli was named Big Ten Player of the Week after leading the conference in both scoring and rebounding for the week.
Martinelli averaged 29 points on 21-of-28 (75%) shooting and 12 rebounds in two games He became the only Big Ten player to post 25-plus points and 10-plus rebounds in the first two games of a season since the 1996-97 season.
The Wildcats are 7-4 all-time against the Flames.