A last-second Nick Martinelli hook shot was the difference as Northwestern extended its conference victory streak to three in a 63-62 win over Oregon in the penultimate home game of the season.
Martinelli led the way for the Wildcats with 22 points, 14 coming in the second half, for his 21st game with 20+ on the year. He also recorded 11 rebounds and seven assists. For Oregon, Nate Bittle led the team in scoring once again with 19, while Kwame Evans Jr.’s 15 rebounds led all players.
The Wildcats shot on a 45% clip compared to Oregon’s 39%. However, the biggest difference came in fast-break points — NU had 20 compared to Oregon’s two.
Arrinten Page started hot in his first start in 10 games. After winning the opening tip, the forward got to the line and split a pair of free throws to open the scoring. On NU’s first defensive possession, he recorded a steal and a massive fastbreak slam, but an offensive dry spell afterwards saw Oregon jump out to a 6-3 lead.
The ball swung around to Jayden Reid on a fast break, and the junior hit NU’s first three of the game with 16:58 left in the half, the squad’s only make out of its first six attempts. While the Wildcats struggled from long range, Evans Jr. got off the mark with a triple from the left wing to make it 11-8 in the Ducks’ favor. NU went into the under-16 media timeout in the midst of a 2:30-minute-long scoring drought.
The ‘Cats’ defense got off to a much better start than the offense, forcing four Oregon turnovers as the Ducks tried to work the ball to Bittle inside. The fourth turnover led to a Jake West-to-Martinelli and-one transition lay to break NU’s offensive drought.
NU found a rhythm from then on. A West pull-up mid-ranger was matched by a Bittle layup inside before Martinelli was sent to the line for his fifth and sixth attempts of the half. Martinelli missed the second, but an offensive rebound led to a Jayden Reid floater as NU took a 16-14 lead going into the under-12 media timeout.
The defensive intensity continued out of the break. Angelo Ciaravino pinned an Evans Jr. layup off the glass for an emphatic block that led to a Kropp layup in transition. Oregon continued to try and force the ball down low on offense, but found little success outside of occasional trips to the free-throw line. On the other end, NU’s offense relied on transition baskets and its own trips to the line, with Ciaravino and Martinelli both being sent to the stripe before the under-8 timeout. As a result, the ‘Cats led 24-18 on a 6-0 run.
Both slides played sloppy basketball out of the timeout, with the teams shooting a combined 0-for-5 before a Drew Carter right corner triple made it 24-21 with 5:48 in the half. Reid and Simpkins exchanged layups afterwards. Oregon committed two turnovers, bringing its total to seven in the half, but NU couldn’t capitalize on either. Neither team cracked thirty with the score sitting at 26-24 at the under-four timeout.
Bittle took advantage of a size advantage on Ciaravino to put Oregon up 28-26 with an and-one layup, its first lead in nine minutes. A desperation three from Jamari Phillips as the shot clock expired was Oregon’s 10th unanswered point in what would be a 12-0 run. NU thought it put an end to its 4:30-long scoring drought, but Page was called for a charge on a would-be layup.
West finally banked in a three with 15 seconds left in the half, the team’s first basket since 5:18 in the period, but it was immediately answered by a Bittle triple from 30 feet away. NU went into halftime down 36-29, Oregon outscoring it 15-3 in the last five minutes of the half.
Bittle led all scorers with 12 points, while Evans Jr.‘s eight boards paced all players. Martinelli led the ’Cats in points (eight), rebounds (seven) and assists (four), but did so on 1-for-8 shooting.
Oregon started the second half the same way it ended the first half, as Nick Bittle hit another and-one layup. The Ducks scored on their first three possessions of the half. NU kept pace thanks to a layup from Page and consecutive buckets from Singleton. Martinelli’s first field goal of the half made it six in a row for the ’Cats, and a Reid dish for a Page slam brought the score to 43-39. NU went into the media timeout down 45-41, but was on an 8-2 run.
Reid continued to spearhead the offense, hitting a mid-range out of the break to cut Oregon’s lead to two before a Jordan Clayton triple and Martinelli floater gave NU a 48-45 lead going into the under-12 timeout.
Simpkins hit a three for Oregon, but Ciaravino immediately answered it from the right wing. Martinelli continued his hot second half with another floater off a dish from Reid. Next, Page’s steal led to another NU three as Martinelli cashed in from the right wing. Oregon called a full timeout with 6:52 and the ’Cats leading 55-53.
The teams continued to exchange the lead. An Evans Jr. three-point play put the Ducks in front, before Oregon’s 14th turnover led to an acrobatic fastbreak layup from Page that gave NU the advantage. Then, a goaltending call on Page gave Bittle the chance for a three-point play after he got fouled on a layup. Martinelli’s 12th point of the half left the teams knotted up at 59-59 with 3:54 to play.
The wind got taken out of the ’Cats’ sails entering the final stretch as a foul on Ciaravino left the sophomore on the ground holding his leg. He came up hobbling before heading to the bench for the rest of the contest.
But if Ciaravino’s injury messed with NU’s psyche, it didn’t show. Reid rose up and drilled a mid-range jumper to give NU a 61-59 lead, and Page recorded a monster defensive block on the following end that raised the noise level in Welsh Ryan Arena to a fever pitch.
Ducks then responded to a momentum swing, grabbing an offensive rebound and kicking it to a wide-open Wei Lin in the corner. Lin’s three-pointer made it 62-61 with 50.5 to play.
NU’s last possession was drawn out by multiple fouls on Jayden Reid, eventually whittling the clock down to 8.6 left to play and NU set to inbound after a timeout.
With 8.6 and every fan in Welsh-Ryan on their feet, the ball was in Martinelli’s hands. He dribbled into tight coverage, picked up his dribble, stepped through and put up a left-handed hook that hung on the rim for an eternity before dropping through the net with a second on the clock. Oregon’s last-second heave didn’t go in, and the ‘Cats ended with a 63-62 victory.
Northwestern will next play a top-10 matchup, facing off against No. 8 Purdue on Wednesday, Mar. 4 at 7:30 p.m. CT. It will be the first time Purdue plays in Welsh-Ryan Arena since December 2023, when the ‘Cats beat the then-top-ranked Boilermakers in a monumental upset.
