Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs Northwestern Wildcats Box Score on Jan 31, 2021

Jacob Young scored 19 points to help Rutgers post a 64-56 victory over struggling Northwestern in Big Ten play on Sunday night at Evanston, Ill.

Ron Harper Jr. scored all 13 of his points in the second half as the Scarlet Knights (10-6, 6-6 Big Ten) won their third straight game. Geo Baker added 12 points for Rutgers.

Miller Kopp scored 15 points but couldn't prevent Northwestern (6-9, 3-8) from dropping its eighth straight game. Chase Audige had 14 points and a season-best five steals and Ryan Young also had 14 points for the Wildcats.

Northwestern made five of its final six shots to boost its field-goal percentage to 41.7 but was just 4 of 20 from 3-point range and committed 20 turnovers.

The Scarlet Knights connected on 48.9 percent of their field-goal attempts and made 5 of 22 from 3-point range. Rutgers had 18 turnovers.

Rutgers led by as many as 20 in the first half before the Wildcats trimmed it to five by halftime.

The Scarlet Knights worked on rebuilding their advantage and led 47-35 nine minutes into the second half.

Kopp converted a three-point play to pull Northwestern within nine with 9:06 to play. But Montez Mathis notched his own 3-point play and Harper followed with a layup to give Rutgers a 52-38 advantage with 7:51 remaining.

Harper's three-point play gave the Scarlet Knights a 55-40 lead with 6:24 left.

The Wildcats made a charge as Kopp and Pete Nance each scored four points during a 10-0 run to trim Rutgers' lead to five with 2:55 remaining.

But Harper knocked down a jumper 33 seconds later for the Scarlet Knights' first points in over four minutes. Nance pushed Northwestern back within five when he hit a bank shot with 1:11 left.

Jacob Young buried a jumper to give Rutgers a 59-52 lead with 47 seconds left and Harper added two free throws with 40.4 seconds remaining as the Scarlet Knights closed it out.

Jacob Young had 13 first-half points as Rutgers led 34-29 at the break.

The Scarlet Knights opened with a 14-2 salvo and later took a 31-11 lead on Young's 3-pointer with 8:50 left.

Northwestern erupted by scoring the next 13 points to cut the Rutgers' lead to seven with 4:16 remaining. Audige's 3-pointer nearly two minutes later accounted for the five-point halftime margin.

--Field Level Media