Boo Buie scored 21 points to lead Northwestern to a 63-59 home win over Western Michigan on Tuesday in Evanston, Ill.
Brooks Barnhizer added 20 points for Northwestern (3-0), which forced 17 Western Michigan turnovers.
Seth Hubbard scored 17 points in defeat for the Broncos (0-3).
Leading 61-59 with 20.6 seconds left, Northwestern inbounded the ball to Ryan Langborg, who was fouled and made two free throws to give the Wildcats a 63-59 lead.
Northwestern then forced a turnover, but a missed free throw by Barnhizer following a foul was rebounded by Western Michigan's Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro.
But the Broncos' Brandon Muntu missed a 3-pointer and Northwestern corralled the rebounds just as time expired.
With the game tied at 54-54, Buie hit a 3-pointer to give Northwestern a 57-54 lead with 4:01 left.
Buie then hit another basket with 2:56 to go that gave the Wildcats a 59-54 lead.
Western Michigan made it a 59-57 game on a 3-pointer by Hubbard with 2:38 remaining, but Langborg hit a jumper to give the Wildcats a 61-57 lead with 2:05 left.
Hubbard then hit a putback layup with 20.6 seconds remaining to make it 61-59 Northwestern.
Leading 35-28 at halftime, Northwestern scored the first five points of the second half to take a 40-28 lead with 18:11 remaining in the game.
Western Michigan didn't go away though, responding with a 15-4 run to cut Northwestern's lead to 44-43 with 12:03 left.
Northwestern built its lead back up to six at 53-47 with 8:14 remaining, but Western Michigan scored five straight to pull back within one at 53-52 with 5:32 to go.
Western Michigan got off to a solid start, taking a 16-12 lead with 10:14 remaining in the first half.
Northwestern started to find its footing, going on an 8-0 run to take a 20-16 lead with 8:09 left until halftime.
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