Michael Thompson had 16 points and nine assists as Northwestern held on for a 73-70 victory over visiting Iowa on Thursday.

John Shurna and Drew Crawford added 15 points each for Northwestern (15-10, 5-9 Big Ten), which was 12 for 28 on 3-pointers to offset Iowa's 40-22 scoring edge in the paint.

Jarryd Cole had 17 points and eight rebounds for Iowa (10-16, 3-11).

The Wildcats led for most of the second half, but never by more than six before JerShon Cobb's three-point play with 3:01 left made it 69-62. Iowa scored the next four points to get within three before Luka Mirkovic nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:47 left.

Iowa got back within two on a tip-in by Cole, and had a chance to tie after Thompson missed a free throw with 3.3 seconds to go, but could not get a shot off.

Thompson did not commit a turnover as Northwestern had only seven.