Olah leads balanced Northwestern over UMass-Lowell 79-57
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) Alex Olah scored 21 points with 12 rebounds, and Aaron Falzon scored 20 points off the bench as Northwestern beat UMass-Lowell 79-57 on Friday.
Olah, a senior center from Timisoara, Romania, also had two blocked shots and paced a balanced Wildcats scoring attack that included four players reaching double figures.
Bryant McIntosh scored 12 points to go along with 10 from Tre Demps for Northwestern.
UMass-Lowell was led by freshman Isaac White, who scored 15 points. Tyler Livingston scored nine points for the River Hawks.
Northwestern trailed by as many as nine in the first half. But the Wildcats started the second half on a 13-5 run. A Demps 3-point field goal gave Northwestern a 38-35 lead less than two minutes into the second half, putting the Wildcats up for good.
UMass-Lowell got to within 55-50 with 9:08 remaining on a Livingston 3-pointer. But McIntosh and Nathan Taphorn connected on back-to-back baskets beyond the arc to extend Northwestern's lead to double digits.
The Wildcats connected on 58.6 percent of their shots in the second half when they outscored the River Hawks 43-32.
UMass-Lowell led 34-32 at halftime despite failing to hit a field goal for the first 7:35 of the first half. Despite their cold start, the River Hawks shot 45.8 percent from the field and connected on 5 of 13 3-point attempts in the first half.
TIP-INS
Northwestern missed 12 of its first 13 3-point field goal attempts before finishing the game 8 of 26 . Olah started the season with a double-double for the second straight season .UMass-Lowell connected on its first field goal with 12:25 remaining in the first half.White, a freshman guard, paced the River Hawks offense in the loss after UMass-Lowell was one of four teams in the country last season to have two freshmen lead them in scoring.
UP NEXT
UMass-Lowell hosts Sacred Heart on Wednesday. Northwestern hosts Fairfield on Wednesday.
