The Iowa Hawkeyes made twelve three-pointers en route to a 56-51 victory over the Northwestern Wildcats Saturday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. Freshman Matt Gatens, junior Devan Bawinkel, and sophomore Jeff Peteron each connected three times behind the arc to help improve the Hawkeyes to 13-11 overall and 3-8 in the Big Ten. It was Iowa’s first win since they defeated Penn State on Jan. 24th.

At first, it appeared that Northwestern might be able to survive Iowa’s hot three-point shooting as well as several long stretches, including a three minute period during the second half, where the ‘Cats did not score. An old-fashioned three-point play on a field goal by freshman Luka Mirkovic gave NU a one point lead with 1:29 to play. However, Bawinkel answered on Iowa’s next possession with a three-pointer from the corner and the Hawkeyes led 48-46. NU missed a chance to tie when junior Kevin Coble missed an off-balanced (perhaps ill-advised) shot. Mirkovic grabbed the offensive rebound to give NU another opportunity but the ball was stripped away from sophomore Michael Thompson. After that, Iowa made its free throws to kill any hopes of a late Wildcats’ comeback.

Senior Craig Moore was Northwestern’s leading scorer with 20 points. No other ‘Cat reached double digits, and throughout the game, Moore was visibly angry with the team’s effort.

The ‘Cats are now 4-6 in conference play, 13-8 overall. They have a lot of work to do if they hope to reach the NCAA tournament.