ORONO, ME - The Northeastern men's basketball team capped off its regular season with a 70-63 win over Maine at Alfond Arena on Thursday night. With the victory NU improves to 7-20 on the season and 5-11 in America East action, while Maine falls to 10-16 overall and 7-8 in league play.
Northeastern was led by seniors Ricky Cranford (16 points), Jean Bain (15) and Tim West (12). Sophomore walk-on Jesse Dunn also added 11 for the Huskies. Junior Jamaar Walker had nine points with a game-high eight assists. Leading the way for Maine was Justin Rowe with 21 points and Ricky White with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Bain's four free throws in the final 13 seconds iced the game for NU, but it was Walker and West down the stretch that made the difference. Leading by one, Walker nailed a 17-foot jumper to give NU a 62-59 edge. West then scored the Huskies' next four points on layups, courtesy of two great passes on penetration from Walker.
The Black Bears battled back from a three-point half time deficit to take a game-high six point lead with as little as 4:51 remaining. NU then closed the game on a 17-4 run to come away with the victory.
Maine's senior Jamaar Croom scored the game's first bucket at 18:52 to give the Black Bears the early lead. Northeastern then reeled off a 7-0 run to take a 7-2 lead at the 14:14 mark of the first half. Included in the Huskies' run was a thunderous one-handed dunk by senior Tim West over Maine's seven-foot center Justin Rowe. West made the dunk, but couldn't complete the three-point play, missing his free throw attempt.
The team's would trade hoops for a while until Northeastern pushed its lead to a first half-high 13 points, 28-15, with 3:53 to go. A media timeout allowed the Black Bears to regain their composure and close out the half on a 12-2 run, including a stretch of 10 unanswered.
Leading all scorers at the half was Cranford with 14 points. He was 5-6 in the first half, with three three-pointers. White led Maine with 11 points and five boards.
Next up for Northeastern is the America East Championship at Matthews Arena in Boston on March 2-3. NU's seed for the tournament is undetermined at this time, as other league teams play into the Husky postseason equation.
VISITORS: Northeastern 7-20, 5-11
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
12 DAVIS, Aaron........ f 0-5 0-3 0-0 3 1 4 0 0 1 2 0 1 17
32 DUNN, Jesse......... f 4-9 3-4 0-0 3 1 4 1 11 0 1 0 3 26
04 WEST, Tim........... c 6-13 0-0 0-2 1 5 6 1 12 0 2 2 1 31
05 BAIN, Jean.......... g 4-8 1-2 6-8 0 0 0 3 15 1 1 0 2 26
20 WALKER, Jamaar...... g 4-9 0-0 1-1 2 0 2 2 9 8 2 0 2 31
01 HANCOCK, Jermaine... 1-5 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 3 3 1 0 0 0 18
03 NLANDU, Lunzaya..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 6
14 BRITTIAN, Toby...... 1-3 0-1 1-2 1 0 1 1 3 1 1 0 1 13
22 CRANFORD, Ricky..... 6-10 3-4 1-1 2 1 3 1 16 0 0 0 0 18
25 RANDALL, Q.......... 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 4 1 0 1 0 0 6
42 BURKE-BENNETT,Meshak 0-3 0-1 0-2 0 2 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 8
TEAM................ 7 2 9 1
Totals.............. 26-66 8-18 10-18 20 13 33 20 70 13 13 2 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-36 30.6% 2nd Half: 15-30 50.0% Game: 39.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-11 54.5% 2nd Half: 2-7 28.6% Game: 44.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 8-14 57.1% Game: 55.6% 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: Maine 10-16, 7-8
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 TIBBETTS, Todd...... * 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 10
33 CROOM, Jamar........ * 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 4
35 JACKSON, Derrick.... * 2-4 0-0 4-6 0 0 0 1 8 0 4 0 0 40
42 GREENE, Errick...... * 3-10 0-1 2-5 2 3 5 5 8 7 6 1 3 40
43 WHITE, Rickey....... * 7-11 0-0 3-5 6 7 13 2 17 2 4 0 1 30
32 CAMPBELL, Joe....... 2-2 1-1 0-0 0 2 2 3 5 3 1 0 0 29
40 BROWN, Clayton...... 0-2 0-2 2-2 0 5 5 3 2 1 4 0 0 11
44 ROWE, Justin........ 10-14 0-0 1-3 1 7 8 2 21 3 2 7 2 36
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 25-45 1-5 12-21 12 26 38 17 63 18 24 9 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-23 52.2% 2nd Half: 13-22 59.1% Game: 55.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 0-1 0.0% Game: 20.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 10-19 52.6% Game: 57.1% 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Gary Agger, Stephen Uno, Joseph Mingle
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. Maine-None.
Attendance: 1482
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 30 40 - 70
Maine......................... 27 36 - 63
UM's #42 Greene fouled out at :02 of second half
