EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) -John Shurna scored a career-high 29 points as Northwestern defeated Central Connecticut State 74-54 Tuesday night for its ninth straight victory and its best start in 79 years.
The last time the Wildcats (10-1) won 10 of their first 11 games was also the last time they won an outright Big Ten championship - 1930-31. The winning streak is their longest since they went 9-0 to open the 1993-94 season, and they then lost their first nine conference games.
Northwestern, which hasn't finished as high as fourth place or had a winning record in the Big Ten since 1968, starts conference play Dec. 30 at Illinois.
Drew Crawford scored 15 and Michael Thompson 14 for the Wildcats.
Robby Ptacek scored 22 points for Central Connecticut State (3-6), which has played only one home game.
