Northeastern came from behind to defeat Loyola (Md.) for the Huskies' first win of the season, 74-63, on Monday in Baltimore.
Ricky Cranford led the Huskies (1-6) with 16 points, while Tim West added 11 points on 4-4 field goal shooting and Q Randall had 10. Damien Jenifer had a game-high 17 points to pace Loyola (1-4).
NU trailed by as much as 11 in the first half, but dominated after the break, outscoring the Greyhounds 40-26 and shooting 51.6 (16-31) from the floor. First-year NU head coach Ron Everhart got a strong performance from his inside players as West (4-4), Randall (4-6), Lunzaya Nlandu (3-4) and Cornellius Wright (2-3) combined to shoot 13-17 (76.5 percent) from the field.
With the Huskies behind 49-45, freshman Antonio Johnson made a three-pointer to get the Huskies within one and 13:20 left to play. West then stole a pass and raced for a layup to give NU its first lead of the game, 50-49, with 12:55 left. After a Loyola basket, Cranford scored consecutive baskets for the Huskies and Wright added a layup to complete a 6-0 NU run that provided a 56-51 lead at the 10:59 mark. NU never trailed again.
The Huskies eventually pushed the lead to 11 after a dunk by Toby Brittian with 4:48 to go. NU's largest advantage was 15, 73-58, when Jamaar Walker made a pair of free throws with 39 seconds showing.
Down 11 (30-19) late in the first half, the Huskies outscored the Greyhounds 15-7 to close out the half and trailed just 37-34 at intermission. Freshman Jermaine Hancock highlighted the run with the first two three-pointers of his career. NU made just seven of its first 22 field goal tries, but hit six of seven shots to end the first half.
Loyola jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead and doubled the advantage to 10, going up 17-7 on a three-pointer by Ryan Dickey with 11:47 left in the first half. The Greyhounds maintained the double-figure edge, leading 22-12 after a Lucious Jordan three-pointer with 8:27 to go before halftime. The Greyhounds built their largest lead of the game, 30-19, as Lindbergh Chatman made a layup with 4:17 left.
With the win over Loyola, the Huskies avoided matching the worst start in school history, the 0-7 opening of the 1995-96 and 1980-81 teams.
Next up for the Huskies is a meeting with New England's other Huskies, Connecticut, on Saturday at Storrs. The game time has been switched to 7 p.m. UConn is led by former NU head coaches Jim Calhoun and Dave Leitao.
VISITORS: NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY 1-6
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
04 Tim West f 4-4 0-0 3-5 2 1 3 1 11 0 1 0 1 18
31 Q Randall f 4-6 0-0 2-5 4 5 9 3 10 0 1 2 1 20
12 Aaron Davis g 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 1 2 0 1 13
20 Jamaar Walker g 0-1 0-0 3-4 1 2 3 4 3 1 2 0 0 9
22 Ricky Cranford g 8-14 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 16 1 1 0 2 31
01 Jermaine Hancock 2-8 2-6 0-0 0 2 2 3 6 4 1 0 3 23
03 Lunzaya Nlandu 3-4 0-1 0-2 1 4 5 3 6 1 1 0 0 15
05 Jean Bain 2-8 2-7 2-2 0 2 2 3 8 5 1 0 0 25
14 Toby Brittian 2-5 0-0 0-1 2 0 2 1 4 0 0 1 2 17
23 Antonio Johnson 2-5 2-4 0-0 0 0 0 1 6 1 1 0 2 14
30 Cornellius Wright 2-3 0-0 0-2 1 1 2 1 4 1 1 1 2 15
TEAM ........................................ 4 3 7
TOTALS 29-60 6-21 10-21 15 20 35 24 74 15 12 4 14 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 13-29 44.8% 2ndH: 16-31 51.6% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 48.3% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 5-13 38.5% 2ndH: 1-8 12.5% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 28.6% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 3-8 37.5% 2ndH: 7-13 53.8% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 47.6% 4, 1
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HOME TEAM: LOYOLA GREYHOUNDS 1-4
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
15 BERNARD ALLEN f 2-5 0-1 7-10 5 4 9 1 11 1 2 1 1 31
33 IRAKLI NIJARADZE c 0-1 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 12
04 LUCIOUS JORDAN g 4-9 2-4 2-4 3 4 7 1 12 0 4 0 0 39
05 DAMIEN JENIFER g 5-9 1-2 3-6 0 2 2 5 14 2 3 0 3 29
11 B.J. DAVIS g 0-9 0-5 0-0 3 2 5 2 0 2 3 0 1 21
03 LINDBERGH CHATMAN 4-6 1-3 0-1 2 3 5 4 9 1 1 0 0 23
12 DONOVAN THOMAS 3-5 0-0 1-3 2 4 6 3 7 0 3 2 1 20
23 RYAN DICKEY 2-4 1-3 1-2 0 1 1 1 6 1 2 0 0 10
25 SEAN CORRIGAN 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
50 DELONNIE SOUTHALL 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 5
52 JIM CHIVERS 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 8
TEAM ........................................ 2 2 4
TOTALS 21-51 5-20 16-28 17 24 41 19 63 7 20 3 6 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 14-27 51.9% 2ndH: 7-24 29.2% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 41.2% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 4-10 40.0% 2ndH: 1-10 10.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 25.0% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 5-8 62.5% 2ndH: 11-20 55.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 57.1% 3
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OFFICIALS: Joe DeMayo, Earl Walton, Kevin Ferguson
TECHNICAL FOULS:
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY - none
LOYOLA GREYHOUNDS - none
ATTENDANCE: 462
