Final Score: Northwestern 75, Purdue 60

Evanston, IL (Sports Network) - Reggie Hearn led all scorers with 26 points, and the Northwestern Wildcats downed the Purdue Boilermakers, 75-60, in Big Ten Conference play at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Jared Swopshire tallied 13 points, seven rebounds and four blocks to help the Wildcats (13-10, 4-6 Big Ten) rebound from back-to-back lopsided losses to Michigan and Nebraska. Dave Sobolewski also scored 13 points and dished out six assists, while Tre Demps scored 12 in the victory.

A.J. Hammons recorded a double-double off the bench with 19 points and 13 boards for the Boilermakers (11-11, 4-4), who were coming off a 37-point home loss to Indiana earlier this week. D.J. Byrd and Anthony Johnson (eight rebounds) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The Wildcats never trailed in the contest as they shot a healthy 68 percent from the floor in the first half, including an 8-of-12 effort from beyond the arc (.667), to take a 43-29 lead into the break.

NU stretched its advantage to as many as 21 points at the 12:45 mark of the second half. The Boilermakers were never able to get the deficit down to single digits the rest of the way, as they were held to 26.2-percent shooting over the final 20 minutes.

The Wildcats had an impressive 24 assists on 26 field goals for the game to notch their fifth straight win in the head-to-head series.

02/02 15:05:17 ET