Maine used a 24-5 run over the final 10:08 of the first half to take control and rolled to a 75-55 win over Northeastern in America East action at Alfond Arena on Wednesday night.
It was the fourth straight win for the Black Bears, who improved to 12-12 overall and 7-5 in America East. NU, which entered the game having won five of its last six, dropped to 13-12 and 6-6 in the conference.
Javorie Wilson was the lone bright spot for NU as he scored a career-high and game-high 30 points on 12-20 shooting, including 5-9 from beyond the three-point arc. Justin Rowe led the Black Bears with 18 points on 7-8 field goal shooting. Rowe added eight rebounds and six blocks. Clayton Brown and Rickey White each netted 16 points for Maine.
The Huskies were playing without two of their top three scorers as Sylbrin Robinson continued to be sidelined with an elbow injury, while freshman point guard Jose Juan Barea sat out for precautionary reasons as Northeastern looked into an eligibility issue raised by the NCAA earlier this week.
Maine, which shot 56.3 percent from the floor and 70 percent from three-point land (14-20) in a win at NU on Jan. 15, was red hot again. The Black Bears made 78.9 percent (15-19) from the field in the first half. The Huskies stayed closed early on but made only 9-34 from the field (26.5 percent) before intermission and trailed 41-22 at the break.
Jamaar Walker's layup tied the game at 17 with 10:08 left in the first half, but after that Maine took control. White, who was 5-5 from the floor in the first half, made a jumper and Freddy Petkus followed with a three-pointer. Eric Dobson capped a 7-0 surge with another basket for a 24-17 Maine edge at the 8:18 mark. NU neared within four, 24-20, after a Wilson three-pointer but his teammates remained cold and the Black Bears continued to pour it on, going on a 15-0 run. It was 39-20 after a pair of Brown free throws with 1:39 left in the first half. Maine had three three-pointers in the decisive surge. NU was stuck on 20 points for a stretch of 7:25.
“That was definitely the turning point of the game,” NU head coach Ron Everhart said. “They just exploded on us. Anytime you give up 15 straight points you put yourself in a pretty significant hole.”
Maine increased the advantage to as large as 26, 57-31 and 59-33 in the second half, as Rowe continued to get easy inside buckets. Wilson tried to keep NU in the game, scoring 14 of his team's first 16 points of the second half, but he was the Huskies' only offensive threat. The game got as close as 17, 61-44 with 6:10 left, but Maine ran off seven straight points to rebuild a 24-point cushion and any hopes of another dramatic NU comeback were dashed.
VISITORS: Northeastern 13-12, 6-6 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
04 Wilson, Javorie * 12-20 5-9 1-2 3 4 7 2 30 2 4 0 3 39
12 Davis, Aaron * 0-4 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 1 27
15 Keys, Derrell * 4-9 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 8 4 2 0 2 35
20 Walker, Jamaar * 3-6 0-1 1-1 1 0 1 3 7 3 0 0 0 26
30 Wright, Cornellius * 2-7 0-0 1-2 2 0 2 5 5 0 2 0 2 15
11 Martinez, Adrian 0-4 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 15
21 Denishenko, Vadim 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 4 6 3 0 0 2 0 0 12
41 Drain, Adam 1-4 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 1 0 0 0 15
42 Melvin, Lateef 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
52 Oliynyk, Gene 1-6 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 14
TEAM ........................................ 1 2 3 1
TOTALS 23-63 6-14 3-5 12 14 26 20 55 11 12 0 8 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 9-34 26.5% 2ndH: 14-29 48.3% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 36.5% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 3-7 42.9% 2ndH: 3-7 42.9% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 42.9% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 1-2 50.0% 2ndH: 2-3 66.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 60.0% 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: MAINE 12-12, 7-5 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 Reed, Kevin * 3-5 2-4 0-0 0 8 8 2 8 3 2 0 0 29
22 Hill, Thomas * 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 2 1 0 1 18
35 Jackson, Derrick * 1-1 0-0 1-3 0 0 0 2 3 2 3 0 2 22
43 White, Rickey * 7-8 1-1 1-1 3 3 6 0 16 4 2 0 1 23
44 Rowe, Justin * 7-8 0-0 4-6 1 7 8 1 18 2 1 6 0 33
10 Wallingford, Jon 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
12 Dobson, Eric 2-4 0-0 3-4 0 1 1 2 7 9 5 1 1 21
13 Hadjisotirov, Ludmil 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 1 1 0 0 14
14 Petkus, Freddy 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 1 13
23 Dubois, David 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2
32 Campbell, Joe 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 4
40 Brown, Clayton 6-7 0-0 4-4 0 2 2 5 16 1 4 1 0 20
TEAM ........................................ 1 2 3
TOTALS 28-43 5-12 14-20 5 28 33 13 75 24 19 8 7 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 15-19 78.9% 2ndH: 13-24 54.2% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 65.1% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 4-6 66.7% 2ndH: 1-6 16.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 41.7% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 7-7 100.% 2ndH: 7-13 53.8% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 70.0% 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICIALS: Robert Patey, Steven Sanford, John Gynn
TECHNICAL FOULS:
Northeastern - none
MAINE - none
ATTENDANCE: 1,390
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL
Northeastern 22 33 55
MAINE 41 34 75
PTS IN THE PAINT: Northeastern - 14 MAINE - 38
PTS OFF TURNOVERS: Northeastern - 11 MAINE - 13
2ND CHANCE POINTS: Northeastern - 08 MAINE - 02
FAST BREAK POINTS: Northeastern - 00 MAINE - 00
#30 Visitors fouled out at 5:04; #40 Home fouled out at 1:32
