The Northeastern men's basketball team lost to Penn State 79-67 on Saturday afternoon at PSU's Bryce Jordan Center. The Nittany Lions recorded their first win of the 2002-03 season, improving to 1-6, while NU fell to 2-4 overall.
The Huskies led by as many as 15 points in the first half, but could not stop the hot-shooting Sharif Chambliss and the Nittany Lions the rest of the way. Chambliss had a game-high 21 points, while only two of those came in the first half. PSU's Brandon Watkins also had 21 for the Lions.
NU was led by Aaron Davis's 18 points, while freshman Jose Juan Barea had 17 of his own. Northeastern shot just 52.4 percent from the line, 11-21, compared to PSU's 19-25 free throw shooting (76.0 percent).
Trailing 33-29 at the half, Penn State opened the second half on a 10-2 run to take a 39-35 lead at 17:15. Northeastern head coach Ron Everhart was forced to call a timeout to try to rally his team.
The Huskies didn't respond as expected and Penn State pushed its lead to five at 41-36 with 15:58 to go. At that time, Sylbrin Robinson was whistled for a questionable offensive foul, his fourth foul of the game, putting him on the bench for the next 12:17 of play. The Husky frontline was further depleted just under two minutes later as Cornellius Wright also picked up his fourth foul at the 13:56 mark. Wright would return to action just over 10 minutes later.
With Robinson on the bench, PSU went on a 13-5 run to push its bulge to 13 points, 54-41, with 11:34 remaining.
The Huskies didn't quit, as NU reeled off a 9-1 run to cut the lead to five, 55-50, with 9:18 to play. Foul trouble continued for the road team as Barea picked up his fourth foul with 8:29 remaining. Everhart elected to keep Barea in the game as the point guard had netted seven of NU's 21 second-half points at that time.
The decision by NU's coach paid off as Barea assisted on Davis's fastbreak layup and then recorded an old-fashioned three-point play at 6:50 before being relieved by Jamaar Walker, who already had four fouls himself. NU trailed by four, 61-57.
Robinson and Wright returned to the NU lineup at 3:41 with NU trailing by four, 63-59. Coming out of the under-four-minute media timeout, PSU's Chambliss hit his fourth three-pointer of the second half, giving PSU a 66-59 edge. The Huskies would get no closer than four the rest of the way as PSU closed the game on a 16-8 run to give the game its final 79-67 margin.
Penn State's Robert Summers scored the game's first points just over one minute into the contest, but following that it was all Northeastern for the next 10 minutes. NU pushed its lead to a first-half high 15, 21-6, following a putback layup from Robinson at 8:58.
The Huskies held the Nittany Lions to just six points for the first 8:25 of the game. The NU defense buckled down in the early going as the Lions did not score for a 5:27 stretch. The Lions responded, however, with a 21-9 run that cut the NU lead to three, 30-27, with 50 seconds remaining in the half. A Davis three followed for NU, putting the Huskies back on top 33-27. Two free throws by Chambliss gave the game its 33-29 halftime score.
NU's Javorie Wilson paced the Huskies with eight points in the first half, while Robinson chipped in with seven points and six rebounds. PSU was sparked by Jan Jagla's nine points.
Next up for Northeastern is Div. III Curry on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at Solomon Court. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
VISITORS: Northeastern 2-4
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
04 Wilson, Javorie..... f 3-13 0-3 2-4 1 2 3 1 8 1 4 0 2 36
33 Robinson, Sylbrin... f 4-7 1-1 0-0 4 3 7 4 9 1 2 0 1 20
30 Wright, Cornellius.. c 2-4 0-1 0-0 2 1 3 4 4 1 1 0 2 13
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... g 5-9 2-4 5-8 0 2 2 5 17 5 2 0 1 22
12 Davis, Aaron........ g 7-12 3-8 1-2 4 1 5 1 18 0 5 0 3 38
11 Martinez, Adrian.... 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 6
15 Keys, Derrell....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
20 Walker, Jamaar...... 2-2 0-0 2-5 2 1 3 5 6 3 2 0 1 20
32 Dunn, Jesse......... 1-6 0-2 1-2 2 3 5 2 3 0 2 0 1 31
42 Melvin, Lateef...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
52 Oliynyk, Gene....... 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 0 0 1 0 12
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 25-58 6-21 11-21 16 16 32 25 67 12 19 1 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-27 44.4% 2nd Half: 13-31 41.9% Game: 43.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-14 35.7% 2nd Half: 1-7 14.3% Game: 28.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-9 44.4% 2nd Half: 7-12 58.3% Game: 52.4% 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: Penn State 1-6
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 Summers, Robert..... f 0-1 0-0 3-4 3 4 7 4 3 0 0 2 1 23
33 Riley, DeForrest.... f 5-9 2-4 0-0 0 3 3 2 12 3 3 2 1 32
22 Jagla, Jan.......... c 6-16 0-1 1-1 3 3 6 2 13 0 2 3 1 30
10 Watkins, Brandon.... g 6-11 1-2 8-12 2 3 5 3 21 8 3 0 0 33
13 Chambliss, Sharif... g 5-7 5-7 6-6 0 2 2 3 21 5 3 0 2 27
02 Cameron, Brandon.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 5 0 0 14
34 Vossekuil, B.J...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 0 1 0 0 24
44 Egekeze, Ndu........ 2-2 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 4 5 0 1 0 0 9
45 McDougald, Jason.... 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 8
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 26-50 8-14 19-25 10 20 30 20 79 17 19 8 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-21 47.6% 2nd Half: 16-29 55.2% Game: 52.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-2 0.0% 2nd Half: 8-12 66.7% Game: 57.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-13 69.2% 2nd Half: 10-12 83.3% Game: 76.0% 4,2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Ted Valentine, Joe DeMayo, Jim Jenkins
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. Penn State-None.
Attendance: 5304
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 33 34 - 67
Penn State.................... 29 50 - 79
