Nick Martinelli scored a game-high 28 points and Ty Berry added 14 to lift Northwestern to a 72-64 victory against Minnesota on Wednesday in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis.
Thirteenth-seeded Northwestern (17-15) advances to face fifth-seeded Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon.
The Wildcats shot 48.2 percent compared to 37.7 percent for the 12th-seeded Golden Gophers. Minnesota (15-17) lost its third straight game while struggling to support leading scorer Dawson Garcia.
Garcia paced Minnesota with 22 points while shooting 7-for-13. The rest of the Golden Gophers went 13-for-40 from the floor, with Mike Mitchell Jr. (11 points) and Isaac Asuma (eight) following Garcia.
Minnesota’s Frank Mitchell snagged seven rebounds to match Garcia for the team and game high. Matthew Nicholson, Martinelli and Berry each added seven boards to help the Wildcats finish plus-four on the glass.
Jordan Clayton (11 points) and K.J. Windham (10) also finished in double figures for the Wildcats, who boasted a 32-20 advantage in points in the paint.
Berry drilled one of his four treys to push the Northwestern advantage to 54-39 with 9:51 remaining. The 3 capped a 22-10 Wildcats run to open the second half, which coincided with Minnesota’s 2-for-15 slump coming out of halftime.
Minnesota responded with four quick points, including a Garcia putback of a Femi Odukale free throw that would have capped a three-point play.
But with the Golden Gophers threatening to draw within double figures, Clayton responded with a 3 to regain momentum.
Fueled by Martinelli’s 16 points on 8-for-11 shooting, Northwestern led by as many as nine in the first half before taking a 32-29 lead into intermission.
The Wildcats shot 50 percent in the first half but struggled to go 1-for-9 from beyond the arc. Still, it was Northwestern ball-control issues that helped Minnesota close the half on a 6-0 run, with the Golden Gophers capitalizing on a turnover and offensive foul over the final 1:05 before the break.
Wisconsin (23-8) edged host Northwestern 75-69 on Feb. 1 behind 27 points from John Tonje.
–Field Level Media
