Evanston,  IL (SportsNetwork.com)  - Drew  Crawford  had 13  points and  eight 
rebounds  to  lead Northwestern  to a  49-43 win  over 23rd-ranked Illinois at 
Welsh-Ryan Arena. 

JerShon Cobb and Tre Demps both scored 11 for the Wildcats (8-9, 1-3 Big Ten), 
who snapped a four-game losing streak. 

"The  main thing was  that my teammates believed in me," Demps said of finding 
his rhythm as the game went on. 

Tracy  Abrams was  the lone Illinois player to reach double figures in points, 
finishing with 13 on 6-of-15 shooting. 

The  Fighting Illini  (13-4, 2-2),  coming  off Wednesday's  25-point loss  to 
Wisconsin, couldn't get anything going offensively against their in-state foes 
and shot a dreadful 28.1 percent from the field. 

"Shots  didn't fall  that  guys  normally make,"  Abrams  said  of his  team's 
shooting struggles. 

But despite their poor shooting numbers, they were still in the game. Rayvonte 
Rice  hit a  3-pointer to  trim the  deficit to  45-43 with  16 seconds  left. 
Crawford was then fouled and sank two free throws before Abrams missed an off- 
balance shot on the next Illinois position. 

Two more Crawford free throws sealed the outcome. 

The  Fighting Illini shot 19.4 percent in the first half and were 0-for-8 from 
3-point  range.  Fortunately for  them  the  deficit  was only  22-15  because 
Northwestern made only 33.3 percent of its shots. 

The Wildcats led by as many as 10 early in the second half. 

                                   Game Notes 

Demps added eight boards and five assists, while Alex Olah had nine points and 
seven rebounds for Northwestern ... Illinois outrebounded the Wildcats 40-36.