BOSTON, MA - Jesse Dunn scored 22 points on 8-12 field goal shooting to lead Northeastern to a 79-59 win over Albany in an America East game at Solomon Court on Tuesday night.
Three other Huskies scored in double figures as Ricky Cranford netted 14 and teammates Tim West and Jermaine Hancock had 10 points apiece. Will Brand made 9-11 from the field and had a game-high 23 points to pace Albany. Joe Vukovic added 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Great Danes. NU improved to 6-18, 4-9 in America East, while Albany dropped to 7-17, 4-9 in conference play. The Huskies had lost seven of their last eight before blowing out the Great Danes in the teams' first-ever meeting in Boston.
"We made an adjustment in the way we attacked their zone," NU head coach Ron Everhart said. "And of course Jesse making some threes didn't hurt. I think that stretched them out. We wanted to screen the zone, stretch it out and move the ball. We did that and got some open looks, and got some dribble penetration for Jamaar [Walker]. That forced them to play us man-to-man, which is kind of our goal."
NU led 36-28 when Cranford scored five straight points on a three-pointer and a fastbreak layup to give the Huskies a comfortable 41-28 edge with 16:04 left. Albany got within nine twice, the last time coming after a Rhasheed Peterson jumper made it 46-37 with 13:32 showing. Dunn made consecutive three-pointers to start a decisive 8-0 run, which Meshak Burke-Bennett finished with a short off-balanced jumper to give the Huskies a 54-39 lead with 10:24 to go. The Danes got no closer than 13 the rest of the way, and NU's final 20-point bulge was the largest of the game. The Huskies shot 59.3 percent (16-27) in the second half, including 6-10 from behind the three-point arc.
"I thought we defended well," Everhart said. "We were able to get the game up and down a bit, which is to our liking."
The Huskies scored the last nine points of the first half to take a 30-22 lead at intermission, the largest advantage by either team in the opening 20 minutes. Earv Opong's free throw with 2:49 left before the break gave Albany its final lead of the night, 22-21. Hancock then hit his second three-pointer to spark the 9-0 surge. Cranford had the next four points and West capped the surge with a layup as time expired in the first half on a nifty assist from Jamaar Walker, one of his eight in the game.
Both teams were sloppy in the first half, each committing 11 turnovers. The score was tied 16-16 for an ugly stretch of 3:32 as the Huskies and Great Danes combined for eight turnovers and four missed field goal tries. Dunn's three-pointer at the 5:04 mark was NU's only points in a span of 8:47, yet Albany only outscored its host 10-3 in the stretch.
Dunn, a walk-on who was the last man on the bench under previous NU coach Rudy Keeling, continued his late-season surge since being inserted into the starting lineup by first-year leader Everhart. Dunn has averaged 19.7 points over the last three games.
It was the final home game for three NU seniors: Cranford, West and Jean Bain (eight points, five assists).
NU got revenge for a last-second, 51-50 loss at Albany on Jan. 26. "We just didn't shoot the ball well in that game," Everhart said. "But tonight a lot of the shots we made, especially the jumpshots, we didn't make at Albany. I think the big difference was Jesse and Jean making some threes to stretch that zone out."
VISITORS: Albany 7-17, 4-9 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
04 Johnson, Antione * 2-10 1-4 0-0 0 1 1 3 5 1 4 0 1 25
12 Opong, Earv * 0-4 0-2 3-4 0 0 0 2 3 8 1 0 2 39
13 Ouattara, Karim * 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 2 0 1 1 0 15
22 Wyatt, Chris * 2-8 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 3 4 0 2 0 0 16
44 Brand, Will * 9-11 1-1 4-5 1 4 5 3 23 3 3 1 0 38
00 Barnhill, Alex 0-5 0-1 0-0 3 2 5 1 0 0 1 0 0 14
24 Barnes, Brian 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
32 Peterson, Rhasheed 3-8 2-4 0-0 2 4 6 3 8 0 2 0 0 23
33 Young, Sequon 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
40 Vukovic, Joe 6-7 0-0 2-2 4 4 8 3 14 0 0 0 4 25
50 Pipikis, Janis 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
TEAM ........................................ 1 1 2 1
TOTALS 23-56 4-13 9-11 12 20 32 20 59 12 16 2 7 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 9-29 31.0% 2ndH: 14-27 51.9% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 41.1% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 3-7 42.9% 2ndH: 1-6 16.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 30.8% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 1-2 50.0% 2ndH: 8-9 88.9% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 81.8% 0
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 6-18, 4-9 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
04 West, Tim * 5-7 0-0 0-0 2 5 7 2 10 1 3 1 3 25
05 Bain, Jean * 2-7 2-5 2-2 0 1 1 1 8 5 2 0 2 27
20 Walker, Jamaar * 2-5 0-1 0-0 1 4 5 2 4 8 2 0 2 35
22 Cranford, Ricky * 5-11 1-4 3-3 0 4 4 1 14 0 2 0 0 26
32 Dunn, Jesse * 8-12 4-7 2-2 3 2 5 1 22 2 0 0 0 35
01 Hancock, Jermaine 3-8 2-6 2-2 0 2 2 2 10 1 1 0 1 16
03 Nlandu, Lunzaya 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 1 5
14 Brittian, Toby 1-1 0-0 1-1 0 1 1 4 3 0 0 0 0 16
42 Burke-Bennett,Meshak 2-3 0-0 4-6 1 1 2 1 8 1 0 0 0 15
TEAM ........................................ 1 3 4
TOTALS 28-55 9-23 14-16 9 23 32 14 79 18 13 1 9 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 12-28 42.9% 2ndH: 16-27 59.3% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 50.9% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 3-13 23.1% 2ndH: 6-10 60.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 39.1% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 3-3 100.% 2ndH: 11-13 84.6% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 87.5% 0
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OFFICIALS: Richard Antonelli, Alan Libardoni, Jim Haney
TECHNICAL FOULS:
Albany - none
Northeastern - none
ATTENDANCE: 605
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL
Albany 22 37 59
Northeastern 30 49 79
PTS IN THE PAINT: Albany - 22 Northeastern - 30
PTS OFF TURNOVERS: Albany - 11 Northeastern - 11
2ND CHANCE POINTS: Albany - 12 Northeastern - 14
FAST BREAK POINTS: Albany - 04 Northeastern - 11
