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Michigan uses long ball to down Northwestern in OT

Feb 22, 2012 - 5:04 AM Evanston, IL (Sports Network) - No. 11 Michigan went 14-of-38 from long range, hitting three in a row near the start of overtime to run away with a 67-55 win over Northwestern on Tuesday.

Trey Burke led all scorers with 19 points, while Tim Hardaway Jr. chipped in 14 for Michigan (21-7, 11-4 Big Ten). Stu Douglass added 12 points to give the Wolverines their fourth straight conference win for the first time since 2006.

Northwestern (16-11, 6-9) got 14 points from John Shurna and 12 from Davide Curletti. Reggie Hearn had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats, who lost to Michigan in overtime 66-64 when they met on January 11.

After Burke and Hardaway both missed from long range to begin overtime, Burke got the three-point barrage started. Steve Novak and Douglass followed suit, giving the Wolverines a 9-0 run and 58-49 edge with a little more than two minutes left.

Northwestern was forced to foul and Michigan went 9-of-11 from the charity stripe in overtime to escape with the victory.

"Mental toughness is going to be the key to our success," said Douglass after the game, "especially going down close to the Big Ten tournament and then getting to the NCAA tournament. We closed out the game in kind of a textbook way."

In regulation, the Wolverines got back-to-back threes by Burke and Hardaway around a Shurna jumper in the lane to tie the game at 49 with 1:41 left.

Northwestern missed an opportunity when a JerShon Cobb triple was off the mark and the Wolverines got the ball with 24.3 seconds and a chance to win the game.

After a Northwestern foul, Michigan inbounded the ball with 4.7 seconds remaining. Burke got the pass at the top of the key, but was immediately doubled, forcing a prayer at the buzzer that missed everything, sending the game to overtime.

"It was not unlike the game in Ann Arbor where we turned it over the same amount," said Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody. "We only made three threes up there and we made three tonight. Those are possessions that you can't get back when you throw a ball out of bounds or you step out of bounds. The second half just looked sloppy to me."

Michigan took an early 19-13 lead, but the Wildcats scored nine straight, and 14 of the next 17 as a Shurna trey gave the Wildcats a 27-22 lead with just over three minutes to play in the first half.

Northwestern shot 50 percent from the field in the first half to take a 31-24 lead at intermission.

The Wolverines got back-to-back treys from Douglas, and then Vogrich, followed by a Burke layup to cap an 8-1 run as they jumped in front 41-38 with 8:17 to play.

Michigan jumped in front 43-42 on a Jordan Morgan layup, but Hearn buried a three-pointer and Shurna followed with a layup to give Northwestern a 47-43 advantage with 2:42 to play.

Game Notes

The Wildcats shot 18.8 percent from long range, while the Wolverines finished at 36.8 percent...Northwestern turned the ball over 14 times compared to seven for Michigan.