Rapid Reaction: Martinelli’s gamer-winner helps Northwestern men’s basketball defeat Oregon 63-62

A last-second Nick Martinelli hook shot was the difference as Northwestern extended its conference victory streak to three in a 63-62 win over Oregon in the penultimate home game of the season.

Martinelli led the way for the Wildcats with 22 points, 14 coming in the second half, for his 21st game with 20+ on the year. He also recorded 11 rebounds and seven assists. For Oregon, Nate Bittle led the team in scoring once again with 19, while Kwame Evans Jr.’s 15 rebounds led all players.

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The Wildcats shot on a 45% clip compared to Oregon’s 39%. However, the biggest difference came in fast-break points — NU had 20 compared to Oregon’s two.

Arrinten Page started hot in his first start in 10 games. After winning the opening tip, the forward got to the line and split a pair of free throws to open the scoring. On NU’s first defensive possession, he recorded a steal and a massive fastbreak slam, but an offensive dry spell afterwards saw Oregon jump out to a 6-3 lead.

The ball swung around to Jayden Reid on a fast break, and the junior hit NU’s first three of the game with 16:58 left in the half, the squad’s only make out of its first six attempts. While the Wildcats struggled from long range, Evans Jr. got off the mark with a triple from the left wing to make it 11-8 in the Ducks’ favor. NU went into the under-16 media timeout in the midst of a 2:30-minute-long scoring drought.

The ‘Cats’ defense got off to a much better start than the offense, forcing four Oregon turnovers as the Ducks tried to work the ball to Bittle inside. The fourth turnover led to a Jake West-to-Martinelli and-one transition lay to break NU’s offensive drought.

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NU found a rhythm from then on. A West pull-up mid-ranger was matched by a Bittle layup inside before Martinelli was sent to the line for his fifth and sixth attempts of the half. Martinelli missed the second, but an offensive rebound led to a Jayden Reid floater as NU took a 16-14 lead going into the under-12…

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Publish date : 2026-02-28 21:16:00

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