EVANSTON—John Shurna had 21 points and 13 rebounds Thursday night as Northwestern overcame its own poor play for a 53-44 victory over Texas-Pan American, which lost its 11th consecutive game.Northwestern (11-3) had won nine straight games to move into the rankings, at No. 25, for the first time since 1969 before opening the Big Ten season with losses to Illinois and Michigan State.The Wildcats figured to fix their problems against Texas-Pan American (1-16), which lost at Texas by 62 points and at Missouri by 56 and is No. 282 nationally in RPI. But Northwestern committed 19 turnovers and shot 32 percent and didn’t take the lead for good until Luka Mirkovic made two free throws with 11:07 to play.

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CLEVELAND—Norris Cole scored 20 points and Jeremy Montgomery hit four free throws in the final 27 seconds to lift Cleveland State to a 62-57 victory over Loyola on Thursday night.Cole and Montgomery combined to hit six of the Vikings’ nine 3-pointers in a game that featured five ties and 10 lead changes. It was the second straight victory for Cleveland State (6-10, 2-2 Horizon League).Andy Polka hit a layup to give Loyola a 55-52 lead with 1:36 to play, but Trevon Harman’s 3-pointer tied the score at 55.Cole, who led Cleveland State with 20 points, converted a three-point play and Montgomery went 4-for-4 from the line to hold off the Ramblers (11-4, 2-4).Montgomery finished with 15 points and D’Aundray Brown added 14 for the Vikings.Walt Gibler and Terrance Hill led the Ramblers with 13 points each. Aric Van Weelden added 11 points.

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YOUNGSTOWN—Vytas Sulskis scored 17 points and Youngstown State defeated UIC 76-67 on Thursday night.DeAndre Mays added 15 points and Sirlester Martin chipped in 12 for the Penguins (6-8, 1-4 Horizon League).Youngstown State led 56-55 with 9:01 remaining and outscored the Flames 21-12 the rest of the way to snap a two-game losing streak.After the Penguins shot 56 percent (14 of 25) to lead 39-35 at halftime, UIC(5-10, 1-4) opened the second half on a 7-2 run. The Flames took their first lead of the game, 42-41, on K.C. Robins’ layup with 17:48 to play.The game remained close until Youngstown State went on a 7-2 run and led 56-51 on a basket by Sulskis with 10:58 left.Jeremy Buttell scored 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Flames.Robo Kreps, who was averaging 18 points in the Flames’ last eight games, finished with 13.