In its first 100-point game since Dec. 2020, Northwestern (3-0, 0-0 B1G) turned on the jets on Monday in Evanston, turning a promising start into a runaway victory against Cleveland State (1-2, 0-0 Horizon) — setting the tone early and never looking back.
There was only one time Northwestern trailed all game, and after 14 seconds it was never heard of again. The valiant win was led by Nick Martinelli, who collected 21 points throughout the two halves. Arrinten Page was close behind, gathering 17 of his
own. This win was very much a team effort, though — 11 out of the 13 ‘Cats that clocked in put points on the board as the ’Cats shot over 60% from the field.
For the Vikings it was a different story. Constant missed shots led to a 40% field goal percentage, with most of the scoring came in the second half with the game out of question. Dayan Nessah (15 points) and Josiah Harris (13 points) led the way in an otherwise underwhelming offensive night. Harris also led the team in boards with a total of nine on the night, serving as the only reliable rebounder with only 27 collected for CSU over the course of the game.
Northwestern opened the game by grabbing control of the tipoff looking to start things off right.
A pass by Angelo Ciaravino up to Arrinten Page in the paint resulted in a dunk and the first points of the game for the ‘Cats. As the crowd erupted into cheers the Vikings were already on the move down the court. As time slipped away on the shot clock, Cleveland State’s Foster Wonders got it off, missing the shot before the ball was recovered by Dayan Nessah who swiftly hit a floater to tie the game at two.
Northwestern would try to shift momentum back after a swished three-pointer from Nick Martinelli, but multiple sloppy turnovers from the ‘Cats led to an 4-0 scoring run for the Vikings. But the pendulum swing of momentum would quickly go back into NU’s favor, with a steal from Jayden Reid and a subsequent jumper from Justin Mullins getting the ‘Cats got back in the groove of things. With Page dominant down low and CSU unable to generate any offense, the score ballooned to 22-8 in favor of NU.
For the next minute the game progressed in a relatively slow manner, both teams missing shots as they ran from coast to coast. A layup from Cleveland State’s Dayan Nessah finally got the action started again and Northwestern quickly responded with points of its own with a shot behind the arc from Justin Mullins.
More turnovers riddled both teams coming out of the under-eight media timeout, and after nearly two minutes without a score, a jumper by Cleveland State’s Josiah Harris broke the drought. Northwestern was quick to respond, though, with a driving layup from Martinelli on the fast break only furthering its lead.
Throwing the ball around the court, K.J. Windham fired a three as time wound down, just barely missing the basket before Ciaravino leapt into the air to recover the ball and slam it down for two — no harm, no foul. Thriving off this momentum and a subsequent missed three by CSU, the ‘Cats snagged a defensive rebound before a pass from Ciaravino and a sprint down court by Martinelli led to another easy dunk, putting Northwestern up 31-15.
The Vikings barely mustered enough energy to put points on the board through the next four minutes of the half and only scored six, seemingly missing shot after shot. Half of those six points came from free throws after a bit more foul trouble from the ‘Cats — but a three pointer from the top performer Harris took care of the other half.
The final two minutes progressed in less similar fashion to the 18 preceding it, the Vikings connecting with more shots to close the ever-growing Northwestern lead. But with every point CSU gained, the ‘Cats answered right back and by the time the clock hit zero, the score was 53-28 in the Wildcats’ favor.
Fittingly so, Page and Martinelli dominated the court for the ‘Cats in the first half, scoring 15 and 10 points, respectively. The duo also had the most rebounds on the team with five and four, respectively. All in all, the ‘Cats picked up 19 rebounds, seven more than their opponents.
More than half of CSU’s points were scored from inside the paint and most of these came from its star forward Nessah, who led the team with 11 points and shot 4-of-5 from the field.
Coming out of the half, Northwestern commanded the ball and a quick two points were added to its 25-point lead after two made free throws from first-year Tre Singleton. But as the ‘Cats started to settle in, the Vikings finally began to wake up.
Capitalizing on a deadball rebound, Harris stepped behind the arc and let one fly and swish the net. Now on a scoring run of their own, two subsequent threes gave nine points back to the Vikings. Although before they could make it a fourth, a second-chance jump shot from Page and another sprint down court from Martinelli for a driving layup flipped the energy in NU’s favor, the score now 59-37, Wildcats.
CSU tried to respond with a three from Chevalier Emery, but Martinelli fired back with a triple of his own to push the lead back to 26. Trading baskets only briefly, the Vikings’ offense slowly started to slow down again, while Martinelli’s back-to-back jumpers and Jake West’s free throw points stifled them even further.
The final blow to Cleveland State came in the form of an NU guard, who clocked in for the first time at the eleventh minute: one Max Green.
As Nessah looked to pass, Green tipped the ball out of his hand, successfully stealing it and pacing down court to slam it in for a dunk, getting his first points of the night with some style points. These first points started a snowball effect for Green, and after only four minutes on the court he had already accumulated 14 points for the ‘Cats. Shot after ridiculous shot from behind the arc continuously connected with the net and it was clear the sophomore transfer was the new star of the night, even scoring the 100th point for Northwestern after a steal and fast break dunk with four minutes left in the half.
Two points earned by free throws from the Vikings showed some fight still left, but NU’s quick response from a pair of free throws of its own started another 0-6 scoring run for the next two minutes. There were a couple of shots behind the arc here and there, but by this point the Vikings were fighting to stay alive on the court while the ‘Cats were playing with their food, even getting minutes from walk-on Gus Hurlburt, who earned his first bucket since 2023.
As the clock ran out, it was official — Northwestern added another win to its column with a commanding 110-63 victory. Now with quite the confidence boost, the Wildcats will travel to DePaul to face the Blue Demons on Friday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
