Northwestern Edges Illinois, SIUE Beats EIU

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) -- He was part of a storied rivalry as a player and assistant, and coach Chris Collins would love to see Northwestern develop one with Illinois.

The Wildcats and Fighting Illini have a long way to go to reach that Duke-North Carolina level.

Tre Demps and Scottie Lindsey each scored 18 points and hit four 3-pointers, and Northwestern beat Illinois 58-56 in a matchup between struggling teams on Saturday night.

''I want them to be real good and I want us to be real good,'' said Collins, who played and coached at Duke before taking the Northwestern job. ''I was fortunate to be a part of probably the most special rivalry in all of college basketball for 20 years. The reason why rivalries can become special is when both are very good.''

Neither team played a particularly great game. But after committing 10 turnovers in the first half, Northwestern had just two the rest of the way. And Demps came up huge down the stretch.

He scored all but one of his points in the second half, nailing 3s on four straight possessions to turn a four-point deficit into a five-point lead. And Northwestern (17-9, 5-8 Big Ten) hung on to win for just the second time in eight games.
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''You just try to stay engaged, stick to the game plan and make plays defensively (when you're not scoring),'' Demps said. ''You know the scouting report, follow the scouting report and try not to worry about it. That's what we did tonight.''

The Wildcats were leading by two when the Fighting Illini's Malcolm Hill got tripped up as time expired after catching an inbounds pass. That gave Illinois (11-14, 3-9) its ninth loss in 12 games.

Alex Olah had 10 points and seven rebounds, and the Wildcats came away with the win despite hitting 9 of 26 3-pointers.

Kendrick Nunn led Illinois with 13 points, while Jalen Coleman-Lands and Maverick Morgan added 12 apiece. Hill - the Big Ten's second-leading scorer - finished with seven points and five turnovers to go with 13 rebounds and eight assists. And he got called out by coach John Groce for the final play.

''He's got to stay on his feet,'' Groce said. ''I'm not picking on him. I love him. I've got to work with him a little bit more. I'll take responsibility. It's my responsibility and his responsibility to make sure we get one up on the rim. It might not go in. They don't all go in. but we've got to get one up on the rim. That's the bottom line.''

SIUE 72, Eastern Illinois 64

Both teams struggled shooting the ball from the floor on Saturday night but a distinct rebounding advantage carried SIU Edwardsville to a 72-64 win over Eastern Illinois at Lantz Arena.  SIUE held a 46-25 rebound margin including 16 offensive rebounds converted into 18 second chance points.
 
EIU dropped to 11-15 overall, 7-6 in the OVC.  SIUE improved to 5-20 overall, 2-11 in the league.
 
The Panthers clicked on offense for the first four minutes of the game jumping out to a 12-3 lead as Casey Teson sank a 3-pointer with 16:09 to play in the first.  The Panthers would go cold from there going nearly the next seven minutes without a field goal.  Luke Piotrowski ended the cold snap with a lay-up at 9:17 that gave EIU a 17-16 lead.  Piotrowski had nine points for EIU.
 
SIUE ended the first half with a 9-2 run over the last 3:44 of the half.  Devin Thornton opened the run with a 3-pointer while Grant Fiorentinos had two buckets.  Fiorentinos finished with 14 points off the bench for the Cougars as SIUE held a 32-25 halftime lead.
 
Piotrowski sank a pair of free throws with 17:20 to play in the second half that cut the margin to one point at 34-33.  Michael Chandler gave the Cougars some breathing room with a three point play following a lay-up by Carlos Anderson pushing the SIUE lead back to six points.
 
Burak Eslik’s 3-pointer with 13:44 to play gave SIUE a ten point lead at 45-35 as Eslik scored 29 points.  He was 12-of-12 at the foul line making ten of those in the final five minutes of the game.
 
EIU was able to trim the lead back to four points on a free throw by Cornell Johnston with 1:22 to play but the Panthers could never make it a one possession game.
 
Trae Anderson led EIU with 29 points and eight rebounds.  EIU shot 35 percent from the floor.