Despite two starters sitting out with injuries, Northeastern pulled a 72-67 upset over Big East member Boston College on Sunday at Conte Forum. It was NU's first win over the Eagles since the 1963-64 season. The Huskies, which came into the game having lost 32 of 34 previous matchups with BC, had dropped 21 straight games to the Eagles.
Sylbrin Robinson led the Huskies with 21 points, while freshman point guard Jose Juan Barea netted 19, including a key driving layup with 11 seconds left to give NU a decisive 71-67 edge. BC called timeout before Robinson tipped the inbounds pass to Jamaar Walker who ran the clock under a second. Javorie Wilson (eight points) was fouled and made one of two free throws to provide the game's final margin.
NU, minus injured regulars Aaron Davis and Cornellius Wright, took the lead late in the first half and never trailed again, fending off several BC rallies. The Eagles' final charge came after Barea made a three-pointer from the top of the key to give the Huskies a 69-61 lead (matching their largest advantage of the afternoon) with 3:21 to go. BC scored six straight points, starting with a three-pointer by Troy Bell (21 points) and ending with a layup by Craig Smith (22 points) to trim the deficit to 69-67 with 41 seconds showing. NU ran the shot clock down and Barea ended the possession with a driving layup for a 71-67 lead.
Adam Drain had a great game for the Huskies, scoring 11 points off the bench, including two key second-half three-pointers. The first trey gave NU a 49-44 edge with 13:19 left after the Eagles neared within two, and Drain's second three-pointer put the Huskies up 66-61 with 4:04 to go following a pair of Bell free throws that had made it a 63-61 game.
BC was threatening, but the Huskies did not fold. The Eagles neared within two points six different times in the second half and had the lead down to a single point once (45-44), but NU answered each time. With the Huskies up 45-39 after a Gene Oliynyk layup at the 15:58 mark, Robinson went to the sidelines to have a tender left ankle retaped by athletic trainer Shannon Morrow. Smith was dominating down low, scoring 15 of 18 BC points during a 10-minute stretch of the second half. Smith converted a three-point play with 10:34 left to make it a 53-51 game, but Robinson was back in the lineup and made a layup after rebounding an Oliynyk miss with just under 10 minutes to go. After Smith made it a two-point game with another layup, Oliynyk made consecutive inside shots, the second on a putback of a Barea miss, for a 59-53 NU lead.
The Huskies played a strong first half and took a 37-33 lead into the break behind 14 points from Robinson. NU was down 26-24 after a pair of free throws by Jermaine Watson with 5:35 left in the first half, but went on an 11-2 run to open a 35-28 edge with 1:49 to go and never trailed again. Drain started the surge with a layup and then made a three-pointer to finish a fast break, which Robinson began with a two-handed block of a Bell shot at the other end.
BC scored five of the half's final seven points to trim the NU edge to four at intermission. Robinson led all scorers with 14 points on 5-7 field goal shooting, including a dunk in the final seconds. Bell paced the Eagles with 13 points, including his team's final seven of the half.
The game got off to an ominous start for the Huskies as Robinson stole a pass on BC's first possession and then missed a breakaway dunk. He would miss just one more shot the rest of the half, however. NU took an early 14-7 advantage after a three-pointer by Jesse Dunn with 13:46 left. BC answered with a 12-2 run to stake a 19-16 lead with 9:07 to go. There were three lead changes and six ties in the tightly contested opening 20 minutes.
The Huskies return to action on Wednesday in their America East opener at Vermont. Wright and Davis, both out with shoulder injuries, are questionable to return.
RON EVERHART POSTGAME COMMENTS:
“We obviously feel good about the win. When you talk about coming into a Big East arena like we did and playing against a team like an Al Skinner team, it's obviously a great win for us. Our guys have really been battling and we feel like we were kind of due for one. We kind of let one get away in New Mexico, we let one get away from us at Penn State and down at Providence the other night we let the wheels fall off late in the game.”
“We made some tough shots. We made some timely free throws and quite frankly got a couple of pretty good bounces there on some missed shots where we got some run outs and some easy baskets. Of course when you're on the road against a school like BC, you kind of need some of this things to happen like that.”
“I don't think there was ever a moment when I didn't feel like we could win this basketball game. But, also I'm the kind of guy that feels we should be winning every basketball game.”
“I thought for sure when Barea hit the three pointer that we were obviously in a position where we had an opportunity to coax this one home and get the win.”
"It's a funny thing because when you're out there and the game's going on, it's almost like [playing a team like Boston College] never even enters your mind. I know for me it didn't. It's one of those things where you're just trying to motivate the guys to run the right play, to find the right slip or cut. And figure out a way to get a ball screen and get Barea in the crack or get Syl on a post up there late in the game. It wasn't until after the game was over when you look up at the jumbotron and say 'Damn. You know that was BC.'"
VISITORS: NORTHEASTERN 7-6
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 3-6 0-1 2-4 1 2 3 4 8 1 1 0 0 22
33 Robinson, Sylbrin... f 8-10 1-2 4-5 1 7 8 2 21 1 4 1 2 35
52 Oliynyk, Gene....... c 3-5 0-0 0-0 2 5 7 3 6 0 2 0 0 25
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... g 6-12 2-4 5-5 0 1 1 2 19 5 5 0 2 35
11 Martinez, Adrian.... g 1-5 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 3 3 0 5 0 0 19
20 Walker, Jamaar...... 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 3 1 5 1 0 3 18
32 Dunn, Jesse......... 1-5 1-4 0-2 1 1 2 2 3 1 3 0 1 21
41 Drain, Adam......... 4-6 3-4 0-0 0 5 5 4 11 0 2 0 0 25
TEAM................ 1 3 4 1
Totals.............. 26-51 8-18 12-18 7 24 31 23 72 13 24 1 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-25 52.0% 2nd Half: 13-26 50.0% Game: 51.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-10 40.0% 2nd Half: 4-8 50.0% Game: 44.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-9 77.8% 2nd Half: 5-9 55.6% Game: 66.7% 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: BOSTON COLLEGE 6-5,0-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 SMITH, Craig........ f 10-13 0-0 2-4 3 4 7 4 22 0 4 1 1 31
11 HINNANT, Louis...... f 1-3 0-0 0-1 0 2 2 4 2 6 3 0 0 23
13 DOORNEKAMP, Nate.... c 2-4 0-0 3-4 2 2 4 4 7 1 3 1 0 29
02 BELL, Troy.......... g 6-18 4-12 5-5 2 2 4 4 21 2 5 0 4 39
05 SIDNEY, Ryan........ g 2-7 1-2 2-5 6 3 9 1 7 2 5 1 0 38
04 WATSON, Jermaine.... 0-4 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 3 2 4 3 0 1 21
34 BRYANT, Andrew...... 3-6 0-3 0-3 0 3 3 0 6 2 1 0 2 19
TEAM................ 1 3 4
Totals.............. 24-55 5-17 14-24 14 20 34 20 67 17 24 3 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-30 40.0% 2nd Half: 12-25 48.0% Game: 43.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 3-10 30.0% Game: 29.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-14 50.0% 2nd Half: 7-10 70.0% Game: 58.3% 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Ray Perone, John Hughes, Michael Stephens
Technical fouls: NORTHEASTERN-None. BOSTON COLLEGE-None.
Attendance: 4239
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
NORTHEASTERN.................. 37 35 - 72
BOSTON COLLEGE................ 33 34 - 67
Points in the paint-NU 32,BC 30. Points off turnovers-NU 28,BC 22.
2nd chance points-NU 9,BC 13. Fast break points-NU 2,BC 0.
Bench points-NU 15,BC 8. Score tied-6 times. Lead changes-7 times.
