BOSTON, MA - Justin Rowe's follow-up dunk of a missed shot with eight seconds left lifted Maine to a 74-73 win over Northeastern in an America East game at Solomon Court on Sunday. Rowe finished with 19 points on 9-12 field goal shooting and added 14 rebounds.
NU led 73-72 after a driving shot by Jamaar Walker with just 15 seconds to go. Maine raced the ball down court and Rowe slammed home a miss by teammate Derrick Jackson for the winning points. NU had one final shot, but Jean Bain's off-balance three-pointer from the corner bounced out.
Joe Campbell added 16 points and 10 rebounds for Maine. The Black Bears also got double-figure efforts from Errick Greene (12) and Clayton Brown (11). Walk-on Jesse Dunn scored a game-high 29 points to lead the Huskies, while Meshak Burke-Bennett netted 10 off the bench, all in the second half.
Maine improves to 9-11 and 6-3 in America East, while the Huskies drop to 5-17, 3-8 in conference play. It was NU's sixth loss in its last seven games.
NU came back from an 18-point second-half deficit to defeat Hartford on Friday and rallied all the way back from a 16-point hole against Maine. The Black Bears led 58-42 with 12:25 left, but the Huskies outscored Maine 25-7 over the next 8:13 and took the lead 67-65 on a layup by Ricky Cranford with 4:12 left. Dunn was the catalyst of the surge, netting 13 points in the run, including seven straight at one point. Toby Brittian's layup with 58 seconds left broke the last tie of the game and gave the Huskies a 71-69 lead. Freddy Petkus then hit a three-pointer while falling out of bounds in the corner to put Maine back ahead 72-71. Walker scored his first basket of the game at the other end for NU's final lead, setting the stage for Rowe's dramatic putback.
Maine scored the last eight points of the half to take a 36-29 lead into the lockerroom. Campbell started the surge with a free throw to create the ninth tie of the first half, 29-29, with 2:53 to go. He also ended the run, making a layup for the last of his game-high 13 first-half points. The Bears stayed hot at the start of the second half, using an 11-5 run to open a 13-point lead, 47-34, with 16:26 to go. Maine continued to go inside to the 7'1 Rowe for easy baskets and pushed the bulge to a game-high 16 before NU mounted its comeback.
The Huskies jumped out to a quick 12-6 lead as Bain hit a three-pointer to break a 6-6 tie and teammate Dunn completed a fastbreak with another three-pointer for the six-point edge with 15:44 left. It would be the largest lead by either team in a tight first half as the Black Bears came right back with an 8-2 spurt to tie the game at 14 with 11:43 left. The teams traded the lead five times in the opening half.
It was the seventh time this season that NU has lost a game by five points or fewer and the team's third one-point loss.
VISITORS: Maine 9-11, 6-3 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
21 Tibbetts, Todd * 2-4 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 4 3 1 0 0 23
32 Campbell, Joe * 4-7 2-5 6-7 0 10 10 0 16 2 2 1 3 40
35 Jackson, Derrick * 2-5 0-1 2-2 0 3 3 4 6 4 4 0 1 39
42 Greene, Errick * 4-7 0-0 4-8 1 1 2 1 12 5 6 0 1 38
44 Rowe, Justin * 9-12 0-0 1-4 5 9 14 4 19 2 2 1 1 34
14 Petkus, Freddy 2-3 2-3 0-0 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 11
20 Flavin, Mark 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
40 Brown, Clayton 3-8 2-6 3-4 1 2 3 5 11 1 2 0 0 14
TEAM ........................................ 1 2 3 1
TOTALS 26-46 6-17 16-25 8 28 36 17 74 17 18 2 6 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 11-21 52.4% 2ndH: 15-25 60.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 56.5% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 2-11 18.2% 2ndH: 4-6 66.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 35.3% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 12-15 80.0% 2ndH: 4-10 40.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 64.0% 5
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 5-17, 3-8 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 * 2-3 0-1 1-3 2 1 3 4 5 0 1 0 0 17
05 Bain, Jean * 2-9 2-7 3-4 0 1 1 2 9 4 1 0 1 36
20 Walker, Jamaar * 1-3 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 4 3 6 1 0 3 24
22 Cranford, Ricky * 1-8 0-4 2-4 0 2 2 2 4 3 2 0 2 30
32 Dunn, Jesse * 9-14 4-7 7-8 0 3 3 2 29 2 0 0 0 37
01 Hancock, Jermaine 1-4 0-3 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 6
04 West, Tim 2-4 0-0 0-2 1 1 2 0 4 0 1 0 1 7
14 Brittian, Toby 3-3 1-1 0-0 4 2 6 2 7 3 1 0 1 26
42 Burke-Bennett,Meshak 4-8 0-1 2-4 2 3 5 4 10 0 2 0 0 17
TEAM ........................................ 0 1 1
TOTALS 25-56 7-24 16-27 10 16 26 21 73 18 9 0 8 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 10-24 41.7% 2ndH: 15-32 46.9% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 44.6% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 5-15 33.3% 2ndH: 2-9 22.2% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 29.2% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 4-9 44.4% 2ndH: 12-18 66.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 59.3% 4
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OFFICIALS: Ben Vasconcells, Joe Vigna, Jeff Plunkett
TECHNICAL FOULS:
Maine - none
Northeastern - none
ATTENDANCE: 636
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL
Maine 36 38 74
Northeastern 29 44 73
PTS IN THE PAINT: Maine - 28 Northeastern - 30
PTS OFF TURNOVERS: Maine - 07 Northeastern - 21
2ND CHANCE POINTS: Maine - 10 Northeastern - 10
FAST BREAK POINTS: Maine - 00 Northeastern - 09
Career-high 29 points for NU's Jesse Dunn
