The Knights are still on a postseason tear as the season winds down.

Down seven points at halftime, the Scarlet Knights rallied in the second half, outscoring the Wildcats by ten points for their fourth consecutive Big Ten conference victory. The Knights now sit at 14-10 overall, 6-7 in conference, and have moved into a tie for 7th place, something unfathomable after a disheartening loss to Penn State to close out the month of January. Northwestern drops to 17-8, 8-6 in conference but are still safely in the tournament based on the latest projections.

Rutgers was forced to play without defensive stalwart Mawot Mag, who sat out the game due to knee soreness but will hopefully be available for Sunday’s matchup against Minnesota. Guard Noah Fernandes, who was key in RU’s rout of Wisconsin this past Saturday, did not play the second half after an undisclosed injury in the first half.

Northwestern, meanwhile, had injury problems of their own, learning earlier this week that guard and top-contributor Ty Berry would be lost for the remainder of the season with a torn meniscus.

Northwestern also lost guard Ryan Langborg in the first half with over 10 minutes remaining, when he was called for a Flagrant 2 for elbowing Jamichael Davis in the family jewels. This resulted in a long, extensive review with the refs taking turns looking at the monitor and discussing for an extended period of time before making the call and ejecting Langborg. As soon as Langford was whistled for the foul, he showed good sportsmanship, approaching a hunched over Davis and apologizing. The refs, however, went by the letter of the law for this particular rule and replays showed Langborg thrusting out the elbow on his non dribbling hand and making clear contact below the belt.

Without the sharp-shooting Berry and Langborg, the Wildcats would need to rely heavily on star guard Boo Buie. All eyes turned to Boo to see if he could single-handedly will the Wildcats to victory, as he has done throughout his career in Evanston. The all-conference guard gave every indication he would do just that in the 1st half, lighting up the Knights for 17 points and finishing with 27 overall. It looked like Northwestern would cruise to victory riding the hot hand of Boo, but Rutgers clamped down on defense in the 2nd half and held Buie without a made field goal for the final 17 minutes.

In the 1st half, RU jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead but then allowed NU to go on a 15-0 run and take a 17-5 lead. For Rutgers fans, this was reminiscent of many losses this season in which Rutgers fell behind big early, would rally back in the second half, only to run out of gas down the stretch. Those teams didn’t have Jeremiah Williams on the court, though. Williams would finish with 15 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocks, willing the Knights to victory. He has proved himself an assist machine in his four games this season, easily driving into the lane and dishing to open players around the basket for easy buckets.

Williams has also elevated the play of those around him. Oskar Palmquist, who’s minutes have been severely limited since Williams’s return, found himself at the center of a Rutgers first-half comeback, hitting three three-pointers for a season-high 9 points and helping the Scarlet Knights close the large early gap.

In the 2nd half, RU went on a 10-0 run for their first lead, 42-41, since the 5-4 lead early in the game. NU then went on a 10-0 run of their own but in a game of runs, RU would counter again with another 10-0 run to take a 54-51 lead.

With the Scarlet Knights leading 58-55, the Wildcats’s three-point specialist Brooks Barnhizer would hit his first of the night to tie the game back up, 58-58 with 1:20 left. Aundre Hyatt would bury a three of his own with under a minute left to put RU back up, 61-58. Trailing 63-60 with 4.5 seconds left, Buie got the ball and shot a desperation three, trying to draw the foul by leaning into the brick wall of Omoruyi and Davis, but no whistle blew. Boo’s shot fell short and Rutgers would escape with the victory.