Northwestern 74, Iowa 57

Published Feb. 26, 2010 2:07 a.m. ET

foxsports

John Shurna scored 18 of his 29 points in the first half to lead Northwestern to an easy 74-57 victory over Iowa on Thursday night.

After suffering a 78-65 loss at Iowa on Feb. 10, Northwestern (18-10, 7-9 Big Ten) took a big lead in the opening minutes with a number of easy backdoor layups, then Shurna followed with a barrage of 3-pointers.

Shurna, who entered the night fourth in scoring in the Big Ten, gave the Wildcats a 23-9 lead with back-to-back 3s and Luka Mirkovic extended the lead to 31-11 on a rebound basket.

Northwestern made 11 of its first 14 field-goal attempts and shot 63 percent in the first half, taking a 39-19 halftime lead.

Matt Gatens scored 15 points and Cully Payne added 10 for Iowa (9-19, 3-12).