During its second game of the campaign, Northwestern flexed its offensive firepower and defeated Stony Brook 78-65 Friday night in Evanston, Ill.
After dropping 86 points against Binghamton in their season opener, the Wildcats stayed hot in their second of five consecutive home contests.
Northwestern (2-0) was led by Jake West, LA Pratt and Phoenix Gill, who tallied 23, 16 and 14 points, respectively. West set a new career high with his 23 points — surpassing his previous best of 20, which he reached Monday.
The Wildcats held Stony Brook (1-1) to 39.2% shooting and just 24.1% from behind the arc.
Even without Jack Karasinski — who hit seven 3-pointers for Northwestern on Monday but missed Friday’s game due to concussion protocol — the Wildcats couldn’t be stifled on offense. The hosts shot 48.1% as a team and made 12 of 23 shots from long range — including 10 of 14 before halftime.
Bryan Ndjonga headlined the scorers for the Seawolves, notching 19 points. Though the visitors improved in the second half, shooting 45.5%, they couldn’t overcome their poor start to the evening.
Stony Brook won the opening tipoff, but after a travel, Northwestern scored the first points of the game and never looked back. The Wildcats led 15-2 at the under-16 media timeout, shooting 5-for-5 with three 3-pointers to open the game.
Out of the break, three different Seawolves got in the scoring column, bringing their deficit back to single digits. Ethan Simmon led the charge, drilling two 3-pointers less than a minute apart.
The squads went back and forth throughout rest of the half, with Northwestern’s lead hovering around 10 points. The Wildcats led 44-30 after 20 minutes of play. Morris Ugusuk and Ndjonga kept Stony Brook competitive, scoring eight and seven points in the first frame, respectively.
Most of the second half continued like much of the first, with Stony Brook unable to erase the deficit while the Wildcats didn’t manage to pull any further ahead. With 6:32 remaining, Northwestern went on an 11-4 run to finally put the game out of reach.
In the final seven minutes, the Wildcats conceded just three made field goals.