POUGHKEEPSIE, NY - The Northeastern men's basketball team dropped to 0-2 on the season as they lost 87-76 to Drexel in the consolation game of the Pepsi-Marist Classic on Saturday night.
The Huskies and Dragons battled back-and-forth for 40 minutes, but missed free throws and a hot-shooting Drexel team proved to be too much for Northeastern. NU was 7-9 from the charity stripe in the first half, but just 9-19 in the second for a combined 16-28 (57.1 percent) in the game.
Despite a game-high 22 points from Ricky Cranford and a 14-point, 13-rebound performance from Q Randall the Huskies lost to the former America East squad.
Drexel jumped out to an early 4-0 lead over NU, but NU fought back to take the lead, its first of the season, 7-6, at 16:39 of the first half off a Cranford three-pointer. Cranford got off to a hot-start as he hit four of NU's first five field goals, two of them coming from beyond the arch. He accounted for 12 of NU's first 20 points.
At 8:27 of the first half NU took its biggest lead of the night, two points, 27-25, off a Jean Bain jumper. Drexel then reeled of a 15-4 run to stretch their bulge to nine, 40-31, with 1:50 to go in the first. Nine points was the Dragons biggest lead of the half.
The Huskies once again responded and cut the Drexel lead to four by the break as they closed the half a 7-2 run of their own. The Dragons led 42-38 at intermission.
Northeastern had the lead three times in the second half, but could never sustain it or get it over two points. With the game knotted for just the second time of the night at 52-52, 13:58 on the clock, Drexel went on an 18-8 run to open up a 10-point lead at 70-60 with 6:15 to go. The double-digit lead was too much for NU to crack.
The Huskies shot themselves in the foot, however, following the Drexel run as they missed six free throws in the final six minutes of the game.
Bain (14 points) and freshman Aaron Davis (13 points) both scored in double figures for the second straight game. Coach Ron Everhart used his bench to try to wear out the Dragons as he played 11 of 13 available players.
NU falls to 0-2 on the season, while Drexel improves to 1-1. Next up for Northeastern is its home opener against Brown on Nov. 20 at 8:15 p.m. That game marks the second of an NU doubleheader as the women take on Central Connecticut State at 6 p.m.
VISITORS: Northeastern 0-2; 0-0
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
22 Cranford, Ricky f 9-17 2-4 2-5 5 0 5 1 22 1 2 0 0 29
31 Randall, Q f 5-7 0-0 4-7 6 7 13 2 14 0 2 1 0 30
03 Nlandu, Lunzaya c 1-5 0-1 0-0 0 4 4 5 2 1 3 0 1 23
05 Bain, Jean g 5-12 2-4 2-4 1 0 1 4 14 2 1 0 2 32
12 Davis, Aaron g 5-16 0-4 3-4 4 3 7 0 13 3 0 0 0 33
04 West, Tim 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 2 2 0 3 0 0 5
14 Brittian, Toby 1-2 0-1 2-4 0 1 1 3 4 2 4 1 1 15
20 Walker, Jamaar 0-1 0-0 3-4 2 0 2 5 3 3 0 0 1 12
23 Johnson, Antonio 1-3 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 15
32 Dunn, Jesse 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5
34 Ilnicki, Dave 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
TEAM ........................................ 0 4 4
TOTALS 28-65 4-16 16-28 19 23 42 25 76 12 17 2 5 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 14-32 43.8% 2ndH: 14-33 42.4% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 43.1% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 2-8 25.0% 2ndH: 2-8 25.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 25.0% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 7-9 77.8% 2ndH: 9-19 47.4% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 57.1% 7
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HOME TEAM: Drexel University 1-1; 0-0
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
22 Moore, Jamil f 7-11 0-0 5-8 0 1 1 5 19 4 3 0 0 28
24 Whitworth, Tim f 5-13 3-9 4-4 0 3 3 3 17 2 0 0 0 32
23 Battle, Robert c 4-6 0-0 2-2 1 5 6 4 10 0 1 1 0 25
32 Goss, Phil g 4-10 1-5 0-0 0 1 1 2 9 2 2 0 0 26
44 Schmeider, Eric g 3-9 0-0 6-8 5 5 10 2 12 3 1 0 2 36
04 Brooks, Sean 2-3 0-0 1-4 6 2 8 4 5 2 0 0 0 21
34 King, Jeremiah 4-5 0-1 7-8 1 3 4 3 15 2 1 0 0 26
50 Showers, Steve 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 6
TEAM ........................................ 0 2 2
TOTALS 29-58 4-15 25-34 13 23 36 24 87 15 9 1 2 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 15-28 53.6% 2ndH: 14-30 46.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 50.0% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 2-6 33.3% 2ndH: 2-9 22.2% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 26.7% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 10-14 71.4% 2ndH: 15-20 75.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 73.5% 2
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OFFICIALS: Mike Alvaro, Robert Pugh, Doug Aprahamian
TECHNICAL FOULS:
Northeastern - none
Drexel University - none
ATTENDANCE:
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL
Northeastern 37 39 76
Drexel University 42 45 87
