Marcus Blossom scored a season-high 26 points to lead Northeastern to a 91-85 win over Maine at Solomon Court on Friday night.
Jean Bain (Medford, MA) added a season-high 20 points for the Huskies, who improved to 8-18 overall and 7-10 in America East. Maine dropped to 17-9, 10-7 in conference play. Carvell Ammons and Julian Dunkley each had 28 points to lead the Black Bears, while Errick Greene added 20. Blossom had 16 points and Bain 15 after intermission. Charles Cranford had 10 of his 13 points in the second half for the Huskies.
Greene hit one of two free throws to trim the NU lead to three, 84-81, with 1:04 to go. But, the Huskies made seven of eight foul shots, including four straight from Blossom, to secure the win. The Black Bears never had a possession to tie or take the lead in the final minute, getting no closer than three.
NU trailed 38-35 at the half and was down 42-38 with 18:34 left before taking the lead for good with a 7-0 run. Dwayne Barnes (13 points) converted a three-point play to cap the surge and give the Huskies a 45-42 edge with 16:05 left. The Huskies extended the lead to eight, 59-51, on a Bain three-pointer with 12:57 to go. The shot started a stretch of 1:45 in which Bain scored eight of NU's 11 points.
Dunkley was single-handedly keeping Maine in the game, scoring 15 straight points over a span of 4:29. He finished off his run with a three-pointer that pulled the Black Bears within four, 61-57, with 11:36 left. Bain answered for the Huskies with a three-pointer of his own for a 64-57 lead with 11:12 showing.
NU eventually built a 10-point gap, its largest lead of the night, as Blossom drained a three-pointer to make it 76-66 with 7:55 left.
Ammons and the Black Bears dominated on the inside during the first half. Of Maine's 38 points, 32 came in the paint and the other six from the free throw line. Ammons finished the first 20 minutes with 18 points and eight rebounds.
NU led 18-12 with 12:03 left in the first half, but Ammons scored eight of the last 10 Maine points in a 14-3 run that gave the Black Bears a 26-21 lead. The Huskies got within one on five different occasions, but Maine took a 38-35 edge in halftime.
The 91 points were the most in a game this season by the Huskies. NU also had its best production of the year in a half, netting 56 points in the second half.
VISITORS: Maine 17-9, 10-7
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
23 Dunkley, Julian * 9-17 3-8 7-8 6 2 8 4 28 1 1 1 0 25
30 Greene, Errick * 6-12 0-0 8-10 4 0 4 1 20 1 2 0 1 35
35 Jackson, Derrick * 0-4 0-2 0-0 2 2 4 2 0 1 2 0 1 23
42 Dye, Huggy * 1-12 0-7 0-0 0 3 3 3 2 5 1 1 1 33
44 Ammons, Carvell * 13-18 0-0 2-2 9 5 14 3 28 0 4 2 0 35
12 Cavalieri, Tory 1-4 1-4 2-2 0 5 5 3 5 4 4 0 1 31
31 Haynes, Colin 0-1 0-1 0-1 0 5 5 2 0 3 2 1 0 16
43 White, Rickey 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 2
TEAM ........................................ 1 2 3
TOTALS 31-69 4-22 19-23 23 25 48 19 85 15 16 5 4 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 16-32 50.0% 2ndH: 15-37 40.5% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 44.9% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 0-5 00.0% 2ndH: 4-17 23.5% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 18.2% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 6-7 85.7% 2ndH: 13-16 81.3% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 82.6% 0
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 8-18, 7-10
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 * 7-11 4-5 2-2 0 4 4 2 20 2 1 0 4 35
22 Cranford, Charles * 5-14 2-5 1-1 1 2 3 3 13 3 3 0 2 32
30 Blossom, Marcus * 9-19 2-6 6-8 3 4 7 3 26 5 2 1 1 38
34 Hammick, Tyrone * 3-8 0-0 2-2 3 2 5 5 8 0 0 2 1 23
40 Aygar, George * 3-5 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 1 7 2 2 3 0 27
03 Morris, Cleophus 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3
23 Francois, Jean 1-6 0-0 2-2 3 1 4 2 4 1 3 0 1 21
32 Barnes, Dwayne 5-8 2-3 1-1 1 3 4 4 13 1 1 1 0 21
TEAM ........................................ 4 1 5
TOTALS 33-71 10-19 15-18 16 19 35 21 91 14 12 7 10 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 15-39 38.5% 2ndH: 18-32 56.3% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 46.5% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 4-9 44.4% 2ndH: 6-10 60.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 52.6% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 1-2 50.0% 2ndH: 14-16 87.5% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 83.3% 0
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OFFICIALS: Joe Mingle, Fran Connolly, Paul Faia
TECHNICAL FOULS:
Maine - none
Northeastern - none
ATTENDANCE: 511
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL
Maine 38 47 85
Northeastern 35 56 91
Hammick (NU) fouls out with 1.8 seconds
