Charles Cranford scored 25 points and Marcus Blossom added 22 to lead Northeastern to an 85-80 win over Hartford at Solomon Court on Saturday.
Northeastern entered the game having lost four straight and 10 of its last 11, but rallied from a four-point halftime deficit to improve to 3-13 overall, 2-6 in America East play. Hartford lost its fourth straight game and dropped to 4-12, 1-7.
Ryan Stys had a career-high 23 points to lead Hartford, 19 coming in the first half. Rob Sawicki (12 points), Josh Odugbela (11) and Wayne McClinton (10) also scored in double figures for the Hawks. Tyrone Hammick netted 13 points and George Aygar 11 for the Huskies.
The Hawks were down 73-62 with 6:55 to go, but rallied with a 16-8 run to cut the lead to three, 81-78, and 40 seconds remaining. Mantas Storpirstis made back-to-back three-pointers for Hartford to cap the surge. After Hammick missed a pair of free throws with 38 seconds left, the Hawks had a possession to tie the game, but McClinton missed a short jumper and Blossom got the rebound for the Huskies. Blossom then hit one of two free throws for an 82-78 edge with 19 seconds left, and Hartford never had a chance to tie again.
NU trailed 55-53 with 12:52 left, but Aygar made a layup for the Huskies to start a decisive 20-7 run over the next 5:57. Jean Bain ended the run with a pair of free throws to give NU its largest lead of the afternoon, 73-62, with 6:55 left. Down 42-38 at halftime, the Huskies used an 8-2 run to take a 46-44 lead with 16:56 to go. It was the first of four lead changes in the second half. There were also five ties after intermission.
The Huskies had no answer for Stys in the first half as the freshman had 19 points on 5-9 shooting from the field and 7-7 at the line to lead the Hawks to a 42-38 edge at the break. Cranford, who made 9-11 field goal tries for the game, hit 5-6 and had 12 points in the first half. He scored NU's first eight points of the game as the Huskies jumped out to an 8-2 lead with 17:33 left in the first half. The Hawks scored 10 straight points, seven from Stys, to stake a 12-8 advantage with 15:14 to go. The teams traded baskets the rest of the half with seven lead changes and seven ties.
NU shot 63.3 percent from the field compared to Hartford's 42.9.
VISITORS: Hartford 4-12 (1-7 AE)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
No. N A M E FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
14 McClinton, Wayne * 4-9 1-4 1-1 2 0 2 3 10 6 6 0 3 34
20 Stys, Ryan * 6-12 3-6 8-8 3 0 3 3 23 1 4 0 1 40
30 Sawicki, Rob * 4-6 0-0 4-4 4 0 4 1 12 0 2 0 2 21
33 Smith, Keyon * 1-5 0-2 2-2 0 1 1 2 4 1 7 0 0 23
34 Odugbela, Josh * 2-9 0-1 7-12 4 4 8 4 11 1 1 0 0 29
01 Rozier, Sonny 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 6
03 Storpirstis, Mantas 3-7 3-6 0-1 0 1 1 5 9 0 1 0 0 16
21 Bosley, Louis 3-5 0-0 1-1 4 2 6 4 7 1 2 0 3 17
23 Gordon, Garvin 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 4
31 Solano, Hector 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2
50 Jones, Todd 0-0 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 8
TEAM ........................................ 1 2 3 1
TOTALS 24-56 7-20 25-31 19 13 32 25 80 11 25 0 10 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 13-28 46.4% 2ndH: 11-28 39.3% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 42.9% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 3-10 30.0% 2ndH: 4-10 40.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 35.0% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 13-16 81.3% 2ndH: 12-15 80.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 80.6% 3
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 3-13 (2-6 AE)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
No. N A M E FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 Bain, Jean * 1-4 1-4 2-3 0 1 1 4 5 8 5 0 2 29
22 Cranford, Charles * 9-11 0-1 7-8 0 0 0 2 25 6 2 0 5 33
30 Blossom, Marcus * 8-13 3-8 3-4 0 7 7 2 22 1 3 0 0 37
34 Hammick, Tyrone * 5-9 0-0 3-5 1 0 1 4 13 0 5 0 0 25
40 Aygar, George * 5-7 0-0 1-2 4 4 8 3 11 1 3 4 2 35
01 Amedee, Rubens 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 2 2 0 0 10
03 Morris, Cleophus 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1
04 West, Tim 0-0 0-0 1-4 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 0 0 6
32 Barnes, Dwayne 3-5 2-3 0-0 1 2 3 4 8 3 1 0 0 24
TEAM ........................................ 2 1 3
TOTALS 31-49 6-16 17-26 8 16 24 25 85 21 23 4 9 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 15-24 62.5% 2ndH: 16-25 64.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 63.3% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 3-8 37.5% 2ndH: 3-8 37.5% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 37.5% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 5-10 50.0% 2ndH: 12-16 75.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 65.4% 6
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OFFICIALS: Mike Cabral, Bob Patey, Ben Vasconcells
TECHNICAL FOULS:
Hartford - none
Northeastern - none
ATTENDANCE: 511
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL
Hartford 42 38 80
Northeastern 38 47 85
PTS IN THE PAINT: Hartford - 28 Northeastern - 38
PTS OFF TURNOVERS: Hartford - 23 Northeastern - 36
2ND CHANCE POINTS: Hartford - 18 Northeastern - 08
FAST BREAK POINTS: Hartford - 02 Northeastern - 04
Tim West (NU) fouls out at 1:19; Mantas Storpirstis (UH) fouls out at 0:09
