Pardon’s clutch performance keeps Northwestern alive in win over Vanderbilt

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesIt’s two points for a swish, one point for a non-swish make and negative two points for a miss. Sometimes, they’ll play to 21, sometimes to 15. Sometimes they forgo the game entirely and are told they can’t leave until they make 10 in a row.

For Northwestern’s big men — Dererk Pardon, Barret Benson and, on occasion, Gavin Skelly — it is the free-throw line that ends practice.

“Some days it takes five minutes or two minutes. Some days it takes 40 minutes,” assistant coach Brian James says.

On Thursday afternoon, it took four minutes and six seconds of game time — but far longer than that in real time — for Pardon to win the competition. This time, though,…