Marcus Smallwood scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Northern Illinois to a 54-53 victory over Illinois-Chicago in the first round of the Hawkeye Challenge on Friday at Iowa City.
The Huskies (3-1), who will face host Iowa in Saturday’s title game, shot 56 percent in the second half. Smallwood accounted for 10 second-half points in helping erase a six-point halftime deficit.
The Flames (6-2), who will meet Eastern Washington in the consolation contest, were paced by Cedrick Banks’ 23 points. Armond Williams added 14 points and had a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Flames led 27-21 at the half but came out cold in the second half, hitting just 32 percent from the field.
The Huskies grabbed the lead with a 17-6 run in the first 10 minutes of the second, then held off a late Flames rally.
A dunk by James Hughes with 1 minute 2 seconds to go gave the Huskies a 54-53 lead. Banks’ three-point attempt with three seconds left rimmed out.
The loss snapped UIC’s five-game winning streak.
About time
Connecticut freshman Charlie Villanueva’s eligibility issues have been cleared up, and the highly touted forward is set to make his debut Saturday against Army.
Villanueva missed UConn’s first six regular-season games while the university and the NCAA determined his eligibility.
The 6-foot-10-inch Villanueva also was recruited by Illinois and had considered declaring for the NBA draft.
The eligibility question stemmed from Villanueva’s workouts in front of NBA scouts last summer in Chicago.
Back again
Ten years ago, UCLA and Kentucky met in the first Wooden Classic matchup of two storied programs.
Both teams were ranked in the top five, and the game came down to freshman J.R. Henderson making two free throws with less than a second left, giving UCLA an 82-81 victory. Later that season the Bruins won their 11th national championship. In Saturday’s other game, seventh-ranked Kansas upset No. 1 Massachusetts.
Three of those four teams are back this year, giving the doubleheader at Anaheim named for former UCLA coach John Wooden perhaps its strongest field since 1994.
This time, though, the Bruins aren’t ranked, and they’ll be hard-pressed to beat No. 9 Kentucky on Saturday. The second game at Anaheim Arena features top-ranked Kansas against No. 21 Stanford.
RESULTS, FRIDAY’S SYNOPSIS
Grambling State 55 at #24 Marquette 71
Travis Diener and Terry Sanders scored 13 points each and Golden Eagles (6-0) stayed undefeated. Brion Rush’s 24 points of the Tigers (1-4) led all scorers.
E. Washington 54 at Iowa 70
Pierre Pierce scored 17 points and Greg Brunner added 15 to lead Hawkeyes (5-0) past Eagles (2-4) in 1st round of Hawkeye Challenge. Iowa has won tourney 20 of 21 times.
