January 13, 1999

Box Score

By STEVE HERMAN
AP Sports Writer

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - Luke Recker scored 28 points Wednesday night as No. 23 Indiana survived a big second-half comeback and beat Northwestern 81-78, extending its home winning streak against the Wildcats to 29 games over the past 31 years.

Northwestern has never won in 26 games in Assembly Hall.

Indiana (15-5, 2-3 Big Ten) led by five points at halftime and built its lead to 16 midway through the second half before the rally by Northwestern (9-4, 2-2), which was trying for a third straight conference road victory for the first time since 1960.

Evan Eschmeyer, Northwestern's leading scorer, had only five points in the first half but added 22 after the break, including two free throws that pulled the Wildcats within 74-70 with 4:43 to go. Nate Pomeday added two more free throws, and Northwestern tied the game with 3:30 remaining on a basket by Tavaras Hardy that completed a 24-8 run.

The Hoosiers regained the lead on a 3-pointer by William Gladness, and Recker's final basket put Indiana up 79-74. After offsetting baskets, Northwestern had a final chance to tie when Gladness missed as the shot clock ran out with 12 seconds to go. But David Newman missed a 3-pointer with two seconds left, and Recker got the rebound as the game ended.

A.J. Guyton added 18 points for the Hoosiers, while Michael Lewis finished with 14 and Gladness 13. Hardy and Sean Wink each had 13 points for the Wildcats.

Northwestern stayed close in the first half with 3-pointers. Eight of the Wildcats' 11 field goals in the first half were 3s, including one by Steve Lepore that stopped a 16-3 Indiana run midway through the half.

A 10-0 run, including three-point plays by Lewis and Recker, helped the Hoosiers to their biggest lead, 66-50 with 11 minutes left. A 3-pointer by Wink and three straight baskets by Eschmeyer then started the Northwestern comeback.

**Evan Eschmeyer recorded just the second triple-double in program history with his 27-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist performance in Wednesday's loss at Indiana. It also was the first-ever triple-double posted in IU's Assembly Hall. The only other time the feat was accomplished by a Wildcat was by Jim Pitts versus Purdue in 1966. The last triple-double posted by a Big Ten player was Penn State's Calvin Booth (19p, 10r, 10b) last year at Dayton.