Northeastern outscored Hartford 21-2 over the last 9:22 of the game to come back from an 18-point deficit and record a 67-66 win in an America East game at Solomon Court on Friday night. Meshak Burke-Bennett made a layup with 11 seconds left to put the Huskies ahead. Burke-Bennett then tied up Ryan Stys at the other end, giving NU the ball on the alternating possession with 2.2 seconds showing.
With the win, NU improves to 5-16 overall and 3-7 in America East. Hartford fell to 9-14 and 6-4 in the conference.
Walk-on Jesse Dunn scored a career-high 20 points to lead the Huskies, making 5-8 three-point attempts. Toby Brittian added 11 points, all in the second half, including the first seven points of NU's game-ending 21-2 surge. Jean Bain also netted 11 points, the last three on a long jumper from the right side that gave the Huskies a 65-64 lead with 1:14 to go. It was the team's first advantage since early in the opening half. Ricky Cranford contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies, nine points coming after intermission. Josh Odugbela and Mantas Storpirstis both scored 11 points off the bench to lead the Hawks. Deon Saunders had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Hartford led 40-28 at the half and outscored the Huskies 20-14 in the first 7:36 of the second half to build a comfortable 60-42 lead. The Hawks maintained the 18-point edge as Storpirstis hit a jumper to make it 64-46 with 9:18 showing. Hartford then missed six straight shots and turned the ball over seven times as the Huskies got back in the game.
The first half saw plenty of physical action as three technical fouls were whistled on the two teams combined. Hartford scored 18 points in the paint en route to shooting 55.6 percent (15-27) from the field through the first 20 minutes, compared to NU's 35.5 percent (11-31).
Northeastern's Dunn led all scorers in the first half with 11 points on 3-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Stys had an impressive half with seven points, five rebounds and five assists, while Odugbela added a team-high nine points.
NU jumped out to an early 10-4 lead on a three-pointer by Cranford at 16:05 of the first half before the Huskies went on an eight-minute scoring drought. Hartford responded with a 19-0 run, while the Huskies were 0-9 from the field with three turnovers in the eight-minute spurt. Goode's layup at 8:29 capped the Hawks' run and pushed their lead to 13, 23-10.
The two teams traded a few buckets before the Hawks would increase their bulge to a first half-high 15 points, 31-16, with 5:33 remaining in the first frame. The Huskies trimmed the Hartford lead to eight, 31-23, just 2:30 later, courtesy of a 7-0 run. Hartford once again pushed its advantage to 15, 38-23, before NU closed the half down 12, 40-28.
In the first meeting between the teams, Hartford overcame a 13-point deficit for a last-second 64-61 win in West Hartford on Jan. 5.
VISITORS: Hartford 9-14, 6-4 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
13 McClinton, Wayne * 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 5 2 2 4 0 0 21
15 Saunders, Deon * 5-13 0-1 0-1 3 7 10 2 10 1 2 2 2 33
20 Stys, Ryan * 2-4 0-1 3-4 1 5 6 3 7 6 2 0 1 34
25 Amous, Junior * 3-5 0-2 1-1 1 4 5 5 7 1 2 0 0 22
44 Johnson, Pierre * 2-5 0-0 0-3 1 7 8 3 4 1 0 1 0 24
03 Storpirstis, Mantas 4-9 3-8 0-1 0 3 3 1 11 0 2 0 0 22
23 Goode, Trevor 4-6 0-0 1-4 3 0 3 1 9 1 0 2 0 11
31 Swan, Shaun 2-2 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 5 0 3 0 0 4
34 Odugbela, Josh 4-6 0-0 3-3 1 3 4 3 11 1 4 0 1 29
TEAM ........................................ 2 3 5
TOTALS 27-52 4-13 8-17 13 34 47 23 66 13 19 5 4 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 15-27 55.6% 2ndH: 12-25 48.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 51.9% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 3-7 42.9% 2ndH: 1-6 16.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 30.8% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 7-11 63.6% 2ndH: 1-6 16.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 47.1% 2
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 5-16, 3-7 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
03 Nlandu, Lunzaya * 2-4 0-0 0-2 1 2 3 4 4 2 1 0 2 23
05 Bain, Jean * 4-12 3-7 0-0 0 2 2 2 11 3 0 0 1 26
20 Walker, Jamaar * 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 1 1 1 0 8 2 0 1 29
22 Cranford, Ricky * 6-15 1-3 1-2 6 4 10 3 14 0 2 0 1 34
32 Dunn, Jesse * 7-12 5-8 1-3 1 4 5 2 20 0 0 1 0 31
01 Hancock, Jermaine 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3
04 West, Tim 0-4 0-0 2-2 1 1 2 0 2 1 1 0 0 16
14 Brittian, Toby 4-6 2-3 1-3 0 3 3 2 11 1 0 0 1 16
21 Johnson, Antonio 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 2 13
25 Randall, Q 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0+
42 Burke-Bennett,Meshak 2-4 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 4 5 0 1 0 3 9
TEAM ........................................ 2 2 4
TOTALS 25-64 11-25 6-16 12 19 31 20 67 17 9 1 11 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 11-31 35.5% 2ndH: 14-33 42.4% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 39.1% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 5-14 35.7% 2ndH: 6-11 54.5% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 44.0% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 1-1 100.% 2ndH: 5-15 33.3% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 37.5% 3
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OFFICIALS: Richard Giallela, Tim O'Brien, Eric Britto
TECHNICAL FOULS:
Hartford - Saunders, Deon(1)
Northeastern - Cranford, Ricky(1) Burke-Bennett,M(1)
ATTENDANCE: 542
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL
Hartford 40 26 66
Northeastern 28 39 67
PTS IN THE PAINT: Hartford - 36 Northeastern - 22
PTS OFF TURNOVERS: Hartford - 16 Northeastern - 23
2ND CHANCE POINTS: Hartford - 16 Northeastern - 10
FAST BREAK POINTS: Hartford - 13 Northeastern - 06
