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Northwestern Hands No. 6 Purdue Third Straight Loss
Evanston, IL (Sports Network) - Michael Thompson paced the Wildcats with 20 points as Northwestern triumphed over a badly slumping sixth-ranked Purdue, 72-64, in a closely contested Big Ten bout at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Luka Mirkovic and Drew Crawford had 16 and 15 points, respectively, with each providing key points in the final two-plus minutes of a tight game. Mirkovic added 10 rebounds and Crawford seven.
Jeremy Nash chipped in nine points for the Wildcats (13-4, 2-3 Big Ten), who were coming off a 10-point loss to Wisconsin on Wednesday but have won three of four overall.
Northwestern was clutch at the foul line, hitting 26-of-30 to help seal the win down the stretch.
E'Twaun Moore put in a game-high 24 points and Robbie Hummel scored 20 with six boards on 7-of-13 shooting for the Boilermakers (14-3, 2-3), who had rattled off 14 straight wins to start the season before losing in three straight.
Purdue shot just 35.6 percent from the field. JaJuan Johnson scored seven points in just 18 minutes before fouling out, while the Boilermaker bench accounted for only five points.
The preseason favorite to take the Big Ten this year, Purdue now finds itself three games behind front-running Michigan State in the conference.
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