The Wildcats held onto a narrow lead late off of heroics from Arrinten Page and Nick Martinelli, as Northwestern (5-1, 0-0 B1G) held on for a 79-77 win over South Carolina (4-2, 0-0 SEC).
After securing a 24-22 lead at the 7:23 mark in the first half, the ‘Cats would never go down again through the rest of the game. It was a game of runs, characterized by several small scoring spurts from both teams. Late in the game, NU went on a 12-2 spurt to secure its biggest lead of the game, but could still
not put the Gamecocks away. South Carolina responded with an 11-2 run of its own, deadlocking the score at 75-75 with under two minutes left. However, Page’s go-ahead layup with 0.8 seconds remaining gave the Wildcats the win, as head coach Chris Collins’ squad held on late for a crucial victory.
Martinelli led the ‘Cats in scoring for the fourth time this season with 25 points, shooting 8-of-17 from the field and 2-of-3 from downtown. He also led the team in rebounding with seven, though Singleton and Ciaravino were also active on the glass with five and four boards, respectively. Building upon his breakout junior season, Page was the hero for the ‘Cats late, totaling 10 points and 6 assists on the day. And, in limited action, the Holy Cross transfer Max Green continued to impress, scoring 13 points in just 11 minutes.
The ‘Cats shot a whopping 57% from the field and 50% from behind the three-point line, continuing their six game streak of 70-or-more-point games to start the season. Though the ‘Cats’ 10 turnovers gave South Carolina 15 points off turnovers and contributed to the Gamecocks’ late rally, Northwestern played a very good game offensively through all forty minutes of action.
Collins’ starting lineup was pretty consistent with previous games, as he put out Tre Singleton, Nick Martinelli, Arrinten Page, Angelo Ciaravino, and Jayden Reid for the fifth time this season.
Out of the gate, the defenses for both teams prevailed. Northwestern forced two Gamecock three-point misses on their opening two possessions, while South Carolina forced a Jaylen Reid turnover.
It was USC’s Meechie Johnson who eventually opened the scoring at the 18:53 mark. The Gamecocks started the game on a 5-0 run in the first two minutes, as Northwestern failed to score on their opening possessions.
However, in the game’s next two minutes, Northwestern bounced back, going on a 7-4 run to tighten up the score to 9-7 in favor of South Carolina entering the game’s first break at 15:13. Martinelli and Page both scored buckets inside, while Singleton splashed a three from the outside, his fifth of the season.
Out of the timeout, Collins called upon Jake West and Justin Mullins, sending Tre Singleton and Jayden Reid to the bench. Immediately, West assisted a Martinelli and-one hook shot in the post. After converting upon the free throw, the three-point play brought the scoring to 10-9, giving the ‘Cats their first lead of the afternoon. Soon after, West continued to stay involved in his early minutes, knocking down two free throws after getting sent to the line on a fast break layup.
The scoring continued to bounce back and forth until the second media timeout, with South Carolina leading 16-14 following contributions from Jordan and former Overtime Elite sensation Eli Ellis, Strong. With 11:18 remaining in the first half, the ‘Cats’ four turnovers contributed to five points-off-turnovers on the other end for the Gamecocks, fueling South Carolina’s narrow lead.
Back in action, K.J. Windham took advantage of an open look, splashing a three off of a Singleton kick-out pass. With Windham’s three, he became the seventh Wildcat to score out of the nine players to see the floor in the first ten minutes of the first half.
Over the next four minutes, the scoring stayed close, with the Gamecocks and the Wildcats both scoring lots of points in the paint. However, Northwestern carved out a seven point lead off the back of two Max Green threes and an Angelo Ciaravino transition dunk. Green’s two threes brought the ‘Cats to 4-of-6 shooting from deep. At this point, the Gamecocks had shot 13 threes to the Wildcats’ six, but Northwestern’s 66.7% trumped South Carolina’s 15.4%, contributing to the Wildcats’ 29-22 lead.
A 6-2 run by the Gamecocks brought the score to 31-28 with just over 2:30 remaining in the half, but another Wildcat three-pointer—this time from Martinelli—kept the Wildcats a couple of possessions in front, bouncing the lead back out to six. Essentially, even in statistical categories like rebounds, assists, turnovers, and points in the paint, the main difference in the game continued to be Northwestern’s superior shooting from behind the arc.
However, soon after, a Reid foul and turnover on back-to-back possessions facilitated four easy points for the Gamecocks as the half entered its final minute. Orchestrating Northwestern’s offense, Reid has not had a major problem with turnovers in the Wildcats’ opening five games, but today he had three in the first half, giving the Gamecocks fast-break opportunities on the other end. Granted, Reid also had six assists, with an up-and-down start to his sixth game in purple.
With the score at 36-34, Ellis missed a step-back jump shot as the first half buzzer sounded, keeping the Wildcats’ narrow lead alive heading into the break.
At the half, it was Martinelli leading the way for the ‘Cats with eight points and three rebounds. On the other end, Elijah Strong had nine points and three rebounds, the game’s top first-half scorer. However, both teams utilized their depth throughout the game’s opening twenty minutes. Both Collins and Lamont Paris implemented nine-man rotations in the first half, and at least seven players scored points for both teams. Of the games 70 total first-half points, 28 came from bench players.
Tre Singleton opened the scoring in the second half after getting open off of a back-pick in the post, and finishing with a strong left-handed layup down low. Martinelli scored on a tip-in layup on the next possession, giving the ‘Cats a 4-0 start to the second period.
The game entered a rim-to-rim stretch characterized by turnovers from both teams. South Carolina knocked down two open three-pointers amidst the scrambled action, while Northwestern’s Page threw down an authoritative slam off of a perfect Reid lob.
Although they made open looks, South Carolina’s shooting splits continued at a lackluster pace. The Gamecocks made just 2-of-9 threes in the half’s opening five minutes, bringing their three-point shooting on the day to 5-of-23. With a Martinelli three, Northwestern brought the lead to 45-40, having made more threes than South Carolina despite shooting half as many— just 11 to the Gamecocks’ 23.
Martinelli started to really assert in himself in the second period’s opening minutes, scoring nine of the ‘Cats’ opening 17 points. At the 11:57 media timeout, Martinelli had tallied 17 points and six rebounds, with perfect 2-of-2 and 5-of-5 shooting from the three-point line and the charity stripe, respectively. Though South Carolina continued to keep pace, Martinelli’s scoring kept Northwestern out in front with a 53-49 lead.
For twenty minutes or so, the ‘Cats had held a lead, though it wavered over the course of mini-bursts by both teams, sputtering up to eight or so points before coming back down to two or three. Coming out of the break, Northwestern was determined to finally establish more sustained distance, rattling off a 7-2 run off the back of a hard drive to the basket by Page for a left-handed layup, a Martinelli and-one and a Ciaravino layup. The ‘Cats’ 60-52 eight-point lead was their biggest of the game to that point.
But the Gamecocks continued to stick around, answering with an 8-2 run of their own, fueled by two Grant Polk triples. Shooting at a 57.1% mark entering the game, Polk had started 1-of-3 from deep, but knocked down two big ones here to keep South Carolina hanging around.
As tides continued to turn, the ‘Cats put together another scoring spurt, going on a 12-2 run over the next 2:07. The run was largely thanks to Green’s work on the offensive end. Green scored seven points, knocking down his third three of the game, and assisted a Justin Mullins layup on a fast break. At this point, the Holy Cross transfer was 5-of-5 from the field and 3-0f-3 from deep, continuing his hot shooting from his 16 points off the bench against Cleveland State. In just 33 minutes over the last three games, Green has scored 32 points, shooting 12-of-16 from the field and an unreal 8-of-11 from deep.
And then, South Carolina responded ONCE again! The Gamecocks refused to let go of the game, mounting an 11-2 run of their own to tie the game at 75-75.
After calling a thirty-second timeout with 49 seconds remaining, Collins put the ball in the hands of last year’s B1G leading scorer. Driving to his left, Martinelli hit a one-handed hook shot to put the ‘Cats up 77-75, bringing his scoring total to 25 on the day.
However, on the other end, after a hard fought defensive sequence, Martinelli gave his points back to the Gamecocks with a shooting foul on Mike Sharavjamts. After he made both free throws, the score was back to a tie at 77-77, with the shot clock turned off for the ‘Cats.
On the final possession, Collins drew up a high post two-man game for Martinelli and Page. After inbounding to Page, the ball found its way to Martinelli. But Page got prime positioning in the post, and Martinelli recognized his height advantage on the 6-foot-8 Strong in the paint. After Martinelli drove baseline, he backed out and found Page, who turned fast and went to his left, scoring a go-ahead left-hand layup with just 0.8 remaining.
The Gamecocks’ final prayer heave was no good, and the score read 79-77 Northwestern as time expired; a massive win for Northwestern in West Virginia. The teams traded runs the entire second half, but the Wildcats stayed in front off of clutch second half performances from Martinelli, Page, and Green.
After finishing the Greenbrier Tip-Off with an even 1-1 record, Northwestern will next head back home to Chicago for some Thanksgiving basketball against Oklahoma State (6-0, 0-0 in Big 12) at the United Center on Nov. 27.
