Loss to Northwestern Costly for Wisconsin

Northwestern shut down Wisconsin with a matchup zone defense and easily defeated the No. 14 Badgers, 69-51, Saturday at Evanston, Ill.

The loss knocked Wisconsin (15-4, 6-2) out of first place in the Big Ten, with Michigan State (12-8, 7-2) taking over the top spot with an 84-70 victory over Ohio State.

The Wildcats (9-11, 4-5) surprised the Badgers with a 34-11 run over the final 13 minutes 30 seconds of the first half to take a 17-point lead.

OTHER GAMES

Jeff Horner’s spinning layup with 1.6 seconds left in the second overtime period gave Iowa (12-8, 5-4 Big Ten) an 84-82 victory over Indiana (11-9, 5-4). The win gave Coach Steve Alford, who led the Hoosiers to the 1987 national championship, his first win at Bloomington, Ind., since taking over at Iowa five years ago. Bracey Wright scored 25 points for the Hoosiers, including a three-point basket with five seconds left to force the second overtime.... Shantay Legans made a 15-foot jumper with five seconds left in double overtime to give Fresno State (11-9, 7-4 Western Athletic Conference) a 75-74 victory over Southern Methodist (9-12, 3-8) at Dallas.... Air Force (16-3, 6-1 Mountain West Conference) ended an eight-game losing streak to Wyoming (9-11, 2-5) by beating the Cowboys, 83-71, at Colorado Springs, Colo.... Utah (17-5, 5-2 MWC) almost blew a nine-point lead in the final 2:27 but held on to beat San Diego State (12-10, 3-4), 65-61, for its 14th consecutive home victory.... Southern Illinois (18-2, 12-0) broke Creighton’s (17-3, 9-3) school-record 28-game home winning streak with a 61-60 victory in a meeting of the Missouri Valley Conference’s top teams.