Kofi Cockburn scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead No. 24 Illinois to a 59-56 victory over Northwestern on Saturday.

Cockburn was effective, hitting 10 of 17 shots, but his teammates combined for a dismal 12-of-34 shooting clip, allowing the Wildcats to hang around despite going 20 of 56 from the field and 6 of 18 from 3-point range.

Northwestern took its first lead on a 3 from Ty Berry with 14:35 to play. The Wildcats worked their way to a six-point cushion on Elyjah Williams’ three-point play with 8:09 to play, but Illinois (15-5, 8-2 Big Ten) turned to Cockburn down the stretch and he scored 14 points in the second half, going 6 of 9 from the field.

Cockburn tied the game with a short bucket with 2:25 to play. After a stop, he went up for another layup and missed, but Illini guard Da’Monte Williams’ follow dunk gave Illinois a 55-53 lead with 1:34 to play.

The Wildcats made just 4 of their last 11 shots, and Illinois went 4 of 6 at the free throw line to close out the game.

No other Illinois players reached double figures, as Alfonso Plummer went 2 of 6 to finish with nine points.