The Northeastern men's basketball got a stiffer test than it expected from Curry Monday night at Solomon Court, but behind junior Marcus Barnes' 28 points it prevailed, 85-56.
The Colonels (1-6) scored the game's first seven points, and took their largest lead at 12-4 on a basket by Stephen Prescod with 12:32 left in the first half.
A Keenan Small alley-oop at the 10:40 mark made it 16-10, but Northeastern (6-5) went on a 17-1 run over the next 6:35, punctuated by a dunk by freshman Bennet Davis, to grab a 27-17 advantage. The Huskies led 38-25 at the break.
Curry's Michael Mohrin nailed a 3-pointer 1:16 into the second half to cut the deficit to 10 at 38-28, but the Huskies answered right back, out-scoring Curry 18-5 over the next 6:29 to open up a 56-33 lead.
The Colonels refused to go away, whittling the margin to 60-45 on a Small 3-ball with 7:46 to go, but they got no closer as junior Jose Juan Barea finally came alive, scoring nine of his 12 points in the final 4:20 to help seal the win.
Senior Sylbrin Robinson had a huge game as he posted his first double-double of the season with 14 points and 16 rebounds. The 16 boards tie a career high. Freshman Bobby Kelly tallied a career-high 13 points and was a menace on the defensive end, registering five steals and four blocks.
Small led the Colonels with 19 points and nine rebounds. Marcus Jones had 12 points and eight assists in a losing cause.
The Huskies forced 27 turnovers and held a 40-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
Northeastern opens up conference play Friday, Jan. 2 at home with a 7 p.m. game against Stony Brook.
Official Basketball Box Score
Curry vs Northeastern
12/29/03 7 p.m. at Solomon Court (Boston, MA)
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VISITORS: Curry 1-6
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
10 Jones, Marcus....... * 3-5 1-1 5-6 0 3 3 4 12 8 4 0 1 28
25 Mohrin, Michael..... * 3-9 2-4 0-2 0 4 4 3 8 3 2 1 0 33
33 Reiph, Nick......... * 1-4 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 2 0 2 1 1 34
34 Dove, Tom........... * 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 4 0 1 3 1 0 15
35 Small, Keenan....... * 7-21 1-8 4-7 1 8 9 1 19 2 7 1 1 40
15 Prescod, Stephen.... 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 4 0 3 0 2 16
32 Ifill, Mike......... 3-4 1-1 2-2 1 6 7 5 9 0 4 0 2 23
40 Lamarre, Marvin..... 1-2 0-0 0-1 1 2 3 4 2 0 2 0 0 10
44 Pagnotta, Andrew.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 4 4 8
Totals.............. 20-50 5-14 11-18 7 29 36 25 56 14 27 4 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-26 38.5% 2nd Half: 10-24 41.7% Game: 40.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 35.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-6 50.0% 2nd Half: 8-12 66.7% Game: 61.1% 1
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 6-5
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...... * 11-20 4-8 2-2 2 0 2 4 28 1 1 0 4 31
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... * 5-18 1-10 1-1 0 2 2 5 12 5 3 0 3 21
30 Wright, Cornellius.. * 2-2 0-0 2-4 2 1 3 3 6 0 1 0 3 15
32 Dunn, Jesse......... * 0-3 0-2 2-2 2 5 7 2 2 0 1 2 0 21
33 Robinson, Sylbrin... * 3-8 1-2 7-10 6 10 16 2 14 0 1 0 0 31
01 Popoola, Dipo....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
02 Youmans, D'wan...... 1-5 0-1 0-0 2 1 3 1 2 0 1 0 0 15
14 Davis, Bennet....... 1-4 0-0 2-4 1 2 3 0 4 0 2 1 0 17
22 Kelly, Bobby........ 5-8 1-1 2-4 2 2 4 2 13 1 0 4 5 30
42 Melvin, Lateef...... 1-3 0-1 2-4 0 3 3 2 4 4 1 0 2 17
TEAM................ 3 3 6
Totals.............. 29-71 7-25 20-31 20 29 49 21 85 11 12 7 17 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-31 38.7% 2nd Half: 17-40 42.5% Game: 40.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-13 30.8% 2nd Half: 3-12 25.0% Game: 28.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 10-16 62.5% 2nd Half: 10-15 66.7% Game: 64.5% 4
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Officials: Stephen Uno, Andrew Mingle, Joe Smoot III
Technical fouls: Curry-None. Northeastern-Barea, Jose Juan.
Attendance: 406
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Curry......................... 25 31 - 56
Northeastern.................. 38 47 - 85
Points in the paint-CC 24,NU 38. Points off turnovers-CC 9,NU 40.
2nd chance points-CC 6,NU 13. Fast break points-CC 10,NU 24.
Bench points-CC 15,NU 23. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-CC 2nd-01:19, NU 2nd-01:06.
