Sophomore Jose Juan Barea made a triumphant return to the Husky lineup Friday night, collecting 14 points and eight assists, and making a key play down the stretch in the men's basketball team's 61-58 win over Harvard at Solomon Court.
Barea, who missed the previous four games with a knee injury, made two free throws with 46 seconds left to give NU a 57-54 lead. After a five-second violation on Harvard, Barea took the inbounds pass and dribbled the length of the floor before dishing to senior swingman Javorie Wilson, who laid it in, got fouled and made the resulting free throw, putting the Huskies up 60-54.
Wilson finished with a game-high 19 points.
The Crimson (0-9) wouldn't go away, cutting the deficit to 61-58 after Matt Stehle's bucket with eight seconds showing on the clock.
Barea had a chance to ice the game with six seconds remaining, but he missed two free throws, giving Harvard one last shot. David Giovacchini's 3-pointer bounced off the front of the rim as time expired, and Northeastern escaped with the win.
The Huskies took (5-4) took their largest lead of the game with 9:31 left to play after a fast-break slam by senior forward Sylbrin Robinson made it 48-38. A couple minutes later, they again widened the advantage to 10 on a Barea 3-pointer.
Harvard, however, went on an 11-4 run, cutting it to 55-54 after a basket by Graham Beatty at the 2:07 mark.
Northeastern led by as many as seven in the first half, during with it shot just 32 percent from the floor, but went into the locker room up just two at 29-27.
The Crimson couldn't find the mark from long range all night, making just 11 percent (2-of-29) of their attempts from behind the arc. They missed all 10 of their 3-point tries in the second half.
Junior Marcus Barnes had 12 points for the Huskies, while Robinson pulled down a season-high 13 rebounds.
Stehle and Michael Beal each had 13 for Harvard.
NU heads to Gainesville, Fla., to play the 13th-ranked Florida Gators on Monday, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m.
VISITORS: Harvard 0-9
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
13 Rogus, Kevin........ * 4-17 1-9 1-2 0 6 6 1 10 0 1 0 4 36
21 Stehle, Matt........ * 6-8 0-0 1-2 3 2 5 4 13 0 2 3 2 22
23 Beal, Michael....... * 5-8 0-0 3-5 3 1 4 5 13 5 8 1 0 34
32 Norman, Jason....... * 3-7 0-2 0-0 2 4 6 2 6 2 4 0 1 35
44 Beatty, Graham...... * 4-9 0-0 1-2 2 3 5 4 9 1 0 0 1 25
12 Goffredo, Jim....... 1-4 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 0 3 0 0 11
25 Giovacchini, David.. 0-2 0-2 2-2 0 0 0 1 2 0 3 0 0 4
33 Martin, Zach........ 0-4 0-3 0-2 0 3 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 20
40 McCrone, Luke....... 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 1 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 13
TEAM................ 2 2 4 1
Totals.............. 24-61 2-19 8-15 14 23 37 17 58 9 23 4 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-28 39.3% 2nd Half: 13-33 39.4% Game: 39.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 0-10 0.0% Game: 10.5% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 5-8 62.5% Game: 53.3% 4,1
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 5-4
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 Barnes, Marcus...... * 3-12 2-7 4-4 0 3 3 2 12 1 3 0 2 35
04 Wilson, Javorie..... * 7-14 4-10 1-1 1 4 5 1 19 4 5 1 3 32
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... * 4-13 1-5 5-8 0 2 2 2 14 8 6 0 2 27
30 Wright, Cornellius.. * 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 2 4 0 4 0 2 23
33 Robinson, Sylbrin... * 2-7 0-1 1-2 8 5 13 2 5 1 2 4 1 36
02 Youmans, D'wan...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
14 Davis, Bennet....... 1-2 0-0 0-1 2 3 5 3 2 0 3 2 0 14
21 Drain, Adam......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 6
22 Kelly, Bobby........ 1-2 1-2 2-2 0 1 1 2 5 0 0 0 1 10
32 Dunn, Jesse......... 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 1 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 8
42 Melvin, Lateef...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 8
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 20-54 8-25 13-20 14 26 40 17 61 15 25 7 14 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-28 32.1% 2nd Half: 11-26 42.3% Game: 37.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-15 26.7% 2nd Half: 4-10 40.0% Game: 32.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-9 77.8% 2nd Half: 6-11 54.5% Game: 65.0% 3
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Officials: Timothy O'Brien, Gary Agger, Michael Alvaro
Technical fouls: Harvard-None. Northeastern-None.
Attendance: 805
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Harvard....................... 27 31 - 58
Northeastern.................. 29 32 - 61
Points in the paint-HU 34,NU 24. Points off turnovers-HU 17,NU 26.
2nd chance points-HU 14,NU 3. Fast break points-HU 4,NU 12.
Bench points-HU 7,NU 7. Score tied-5 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-HU 2nd-00:08, NU 2nd-00:25.
