Local Teams

The Northwestern Wildcats opened the 2020-21 season with a 92-49 victory over the visiting Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions on Wednesday night.

The Wildcats (1-0) scored 28 points on the fast break, and shot 51.6 percent from the field, including 48.3 percent from deep.

Chase Audige, playing in his first game in over a year after sitting out last season following a transfer from William and Mary, scored 16 points on 6 of 12 shooting. Miller Kopp scored a game-high 18 points and Pete Nance had 11 points and seven rebounds.

Shaun Doss Jr., who entered averaging over 19 points per game for the Golden Lions (0-4), had only 10 points on 3-for-14 shooting. Arkansas-Pine Bluff shot only 26.8 percent from the field for the game.

The game started slowly with both teams struggling to hit shots. But once a few shots started falling, the tempo picked up.

After Jalen Lynn hit a 3-pointer for Arkansas-Pine Bluff to go up 17-15, Northwestern went on a 17-2 run over the next four minutes. Audige scored eight points during the run, including two triples and a fast-break slam.

The Golden Lions hit some shots at the end of the half to cut the halftime deficit to 39-29, but the big run flipped the game on its head, giving Northwestern a lead it would not give up.

The Wildcats started the second half hot, hitting their first seven shots -- including four 3-pointers -- to double their lead to 20 points. After a missed shot from Nance, Northwestern then hit its next three shots and added two free throws to go up more than 30 points.

Over the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Wildcats scored 28 points and held the Golden Lions to just six points, eliminating any chance of an Arkansas-Pine Bluff comeback.

Freshman guard Ty Berry had 15 points -- all in the second half -- in his first career game for the Wildcats.

--Field Level Media