NU gets back at Iowa, Flames beat UWGB, Ramblers nipped by UWM

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EVANSTON—John Shurna scored 18 of his 29 points in the first half to lead Northwestern to an easy 74-57 victory over Iowa on Thursday night.After suffering a 78-65 loss at Iowa on Feb. 10, Northwestern (18-10, 7-9 Big Ten) took a big lead in the opening minutes with a number of easy backdoor layups, then Shurna followed with a barrage of 3-pointers.Shurna, who entered the night fourth in scoring in the Big Ten, gave the Wildcats a 23-9 lead with back-to-back 3s and Luka Mirkovic extended the lead to 31-11 on a rebound basket.NU made 11 of its first 14 field-goal attempts and shot 63 percent in the first half, taking a 39-19 halftime lead.Matt Gatens scored 15 points and Cully Payne added 10 for Iowa (9-19, 3-12).

Robo Kreps scored 24 points and UIC rallied to defeat Wisconsin-Green Bay 78-71 Thursday night.The Flames (8-20, 3-14 Horizon) have won two in a row after losing 12 of their previous 13 games.The Phoenix (19-11, 10-7) led 32-24 at halftime and opened up a 14-point lead in the first 3 minutes of the second half before the Flames rallied.Zavion Neely added 18 points for UIC and Jeremy Buttell had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Kreps also had nine rebounds and went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line.Rahmon Fletcher had 17 points to lead Wisconsin-Green Bay. Troy Cotton had 15, Bryquis Perine 13 and Rian Pearson 12.The loss, combined with Wright State’s win at Youngstown State, ended Green Bay’s hopes of a second-place Horizon League finish.UIC won 82-80 at Evansville last Saturday on Kreps’ last-second basket.

Anthony Hill scored 21 points and Ricky Franklin 20 as Wisconsin-Milwaukee defeated Loyola 63-61 on Thursday to split their season series.The Panthers (17-13, 9-8 Horizon) had a decided advantage at the free-throw line, hitting 17 of 26 attempts while Loyola was just 2 for 3.Geoff McCammon led Loyola (14-14, 5-12) with 22 points. Terrance Hill added 11.UWM trailed 30-21 at halftime but opened the second half on a 19-9 run to take a 40-39 lead on James Eayrs’ layup with 13:49 remaining.The teams traded leads for the next 11 minutes before the Panthers went ahead for good, 60-59, on Franklin’s layup with 1:52 left.Loyola won the first meeting between the schools, 69-64, on Dec. 5.