EVANSTON --Dez Wells set a career high with 23 points as Maryland blew out Northwestern in the second half en route to a 77-57 win on Tuesday night.
A week after Maryland announced it would leave the ACC and join the Big Ten in 2014, the Terrapins and Wildcats faced off in a preview of future conference foes and one of 12 contests in the annual ACCBig Ten Challenge.
Maryland (5-1) led 28-26 at halftime but broke the game open in the second half, scoring on its first 10 possessions. The run stretched the lead to 47-34.
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Wells finished the spurt by hitting a 3-pointer and going coast-to-coast for a layup after a Northwestern turnover.
Wells hurt the Wildcats (6-1) from all spots on the floor, slashing to the basket and stepping back to hit jumpers. He was 9 for 11 from the field with three assists.
Reggie Hearn had 19 points and Dave Sobolewski 14 for Northwestern, which was denied a fifth straight ACCBig Ten Challenge victory.
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Melvin's big night lifts DePaul
Cleveland Melvin matched a career high with 30 points and Brandon Young added 20 as DePaul held off a late Fairfield rally to secure an 85-78 victory Tuesday night.
Melvin scored 24 first-half points - including 13 points in the opening 4 minutes - as DePaul (3-3) snapped a two-game losing streak.
Derek Needham paced Fairfield (3-4) with a career-high 29 points.
The Blue Demons quickly pushed their lead to 16 points early in the second half, then held off a late Stags rally capped by a Needham 3-pointer that cut the lead to 78-73 with 2:03 left in regulation.
Charles McKinney and Donnavan Kirk had 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Blue Demons. Amadou Sidibe had 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for Fairfield.
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UIC rolls past Northern Illinois
DeKALB --Hayden Humes scored 18 points and Daniel Barnes added 11 points and eight rebounds to lead Illinois-Chicago to a 58-46 victory against Northern Illinois 58-46 on Tuesday night.
Gary Talton and Josh Crittle had 10 points each for the Flames (5-1), who have won five of the last six games between the teams.
Sam Mader scored 15 points for the Huskies (1-4), who shot just 32.7 percent (16 of 49) from the floor.
Northern Illinois trailed 27-19 at the break but cut the deficit to five points midway through the second half. But Humes scored five points and Talton four during a 10-2 run that gave Illinois-Chicago a 48-35 cushion with 6:52 remaining, and the Huskies got no closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Humes shot 7 of 8 from the field, with two 3-pointers.
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