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Illinois Holds Off Northwestern

Andres Feliz scored 26 points — 16 of them at the foul line — to help Illinois hand Northwestern its 10th straight loss 81-76 on Sunday night.

 

Ayo Dosunmu and Giorgi Bezhanishvili added 12 points apiece and Aaron Jordan grabbed 10 rebounds for Illinois (11-18, 7-11 Big Ten).

 

Illinois was 33 of 38 from the foul line, while Northwestern (12-17, 3-15) was 17 of 22.

 

Dererk Pardon scored 16 points to lead the Wildcats. Miller Kopp and Ryan Taylor added 13 points each for Northwestern.

 

All the points scored in the game’s final seven minutes came from the foul line.

 

Trent Frazier hit a 3-pointer 64 seconds in that sparked a 16-2 run and gave Illinois the lead for good. The Wildcats missed 10 of their first 12 field-goal attempts and shot just 30.3 percent (10 of 33), including 1 of 13 from 3-point range, in the first half.

 

The Illini are 5-3 over the past eight games and are 6-6 over the last 12 games after starting Big Ten play 0-5.

 

Northwestern stormed back to within three points when two intentional fouls sent Feliz to the line in the final 27 seconds.

 

Feliz hit the first two to put Illinois up by five points. After Northwestern again pulled to within 3 points, Feliz calmly sank two more free throws with 11.5 seconds left to seal the victory.

 

Illinois hosts Indiana on Thursday to close out the home regular season.

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