EVANSTON, Ill. (12/3/07) ? The Arkansas State men's basketball team (2-5) led by double-figures for much of the first half, but Northwestern (3-4) finished the opening half strong and capitalized on that momentum in the second half to claim an 88-68 victory Monday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Northwestern went on an 11-2 run to close the first half and tie the score 34-34, then started the second half with a 15-0 run to take a 49-34 lead with 16:14 remaining.  The Wildcats were able to extend their lead to as much as 22 in the second half and didn't allow the Indians any closer than 13 after taking the 49-34 advantage.

The Wildcats hit 15 of their 24 three-point field goal attempts for a .625 percentage, but were especially effective in the second half by making 9-of-13 three's.  Northwestern also hit 75 percent of their field goals in the second half and finished with a .674 overall shooting percentage.

ASU held a 27-16 advantage on the boards, its largest of the season, and shot 54 percent from the field itself, but it wasn't enough to keep up with the Wildcats hot shooting in the second half.  The Indians made 7-of-16 three's for a .438 percentage and also finished with eight steals.

“First, let me say congratulations to Northwestern on a game well played,” said ASU Head Coach Dickey Nutt.  “They shot the ball very well, 75 percent in the second half.  I thought the first five minutes of the second half dictated the game.  They jumped out to a 15 to 20 point lead (to start the second half) and it stayed close to that the rest of the game.  But I was proud of our effort tonight without our leading scorer and I thought we played with a lot of passion early on.”

In the absence of its leading scorer Adrian Banks, ASU had four players step up with a career-high scoring night.  Sophomore guard Ryan Wedel led the Indians with a career-high 23 points and junior forward Yima Chia-Kur also had his best scoring night of the year with 16 points.  Junior forward Shawn Morgan added 10 points to give the Indians three players scoring in double figures.

Wedel was a perfect 3-of-3 from three-point range to start the game, leading ASU to a quick 11-1 advantage by the first media timeout.  The Wildcats promptly went on an 8-0 run to pull back within 11-9, but ASU responded with a 12-2 run to once again grab a double-figure lead that it held from 9:12 to 4:32.

However, Northwestern came back with another run of its own, outscoring ASU 15-5 over the final 4:32 of the opening 20 minutes to force a 34-34 halftime tie after trailing by as much as 12.