Senior Jamaar Walker scored 12 points and had a career-high 13 assists without a turnover to lead Northeastern to a 76-59 victory over America East foe Vermont on Saturday afternoon at Solomon Court. With the victory, NU improves to 14-12 overall and 7-6 in league play, while UVM falls to 15-10 on the season and 8-4 in conference action.
Walker took the regular starting spot of freshman point guard Jose Juan Barea, who was sitting out for the second straight game due to NCAA eligibility requirements. Walker's previous career-high in assists was eight and his 13 versus UVM ties for the third-highest game total in Northeastern's history. He got help from sophomore Aaron Davis (18 points) and junior Cornellius Wright (16 points). Wright shot an impressive 6-7 from the field before fouling out at the 1:50 mark.
Vermont was led by the league's leading scorer Taylor Coppenrath, who tallied 15 points despite an off shooting performance of 5-15 from the field and 2-5 at the line. The game marked the return of NU's Sylbrin Robinson, who had sat out four straight games with an elbow injury. He finished with eight points, five rebounds and four blocks in 33 minutes. NU's win avenged an 89-81 loss at Vermont on Jan. 8.
After trailing 37-22 at the half, Vermont scored the first five points of the second frame to trim NU's lead to 10, 37-27, with 18:38 left. The Catamounts, however, would get no closer. Northeastern reeled off a decisive 21-8 run to increase its bulge to 23, 58-35, at the 10:06 mark. Walker's 10th assist of the game came during the run as he found Wright in the paint for a three-point play.
NU eventually led by as much as 30, 70-40 with 6:43 to go, after a three-pointer by Adam Drain. The Catamounts outscored the Huskies 19-6 in mop-up time to create the game's final 17-point margin.
The first half was all NU as the Huskies led by as many as 17 points and took a 37-22 lead into the lockerroom. Walker was the catalyst of the NU offense as he scored eight points and dished out eight assists through the first 20 minutes of action. Davis was the beneficiary of three assists from Walker, all resulting in three-point field goals. Davis was the half's high scorer with 13 points, while Germain Njila paced UVM with eight.
The Huskies jumped out a quick 16-6 lead courtesy of good ball movement and solid defense. Walker assisted on four of NU's first six field goals and also scored one himself.
A Davis three-pointer with 1:05 remaining on the clock pushed NU's lead to a first half-high 17 points, 37-20. David Hehn's runner in the paint with seven seconds remaining in the half cut the Huskies' lead to 15, making it a 37-22 game at intermission.
Next up for Northeastern is Binghamton on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 12 p.m. Barea also will miss the Binghamton game due to NCAA requirements, but will return for NU's home game against Albany Feb. 26.
VISITORS: Vermont 15-10, 8-4 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
22 Coppenrath, Taylor * 5-15 3-5 2-5 1 3 4 2 15 1 5 1 1 35
24 Hehn, David * 3-5 1-2 1-2 0 3 3 1 8 2 2 0 1 27
32 Njila, Germain * 4-5 0-0 1-3 3 3 6 3 9 1 2 1 1 25
42 Anderson, Grant * 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 2 4 5 0 0 29
52 Sheftic, Matt * 3-9 0-0 2-5 1 5 6 2 8 2 2 0 0 24
12 Phelan, Jack 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 7
15 Anderson, Andre 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 5 0 1 0 0 1 18
21 Goia, Mike 3-6 2-5 3-3 1 1 2 1 11 2 0 0 1 13
40 Sullivan, Corry 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
43 Jones, Scotty 2-3 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 4 0 0 1 0 16
TEAM ........................................ 1 0 1
TOTALS 22-47 6-14 9-18 8 21 29 18 59 13 16 3 5 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 10-23 43.5% 2ndH: 12-24 50.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 46.8% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 1-3 33.3% 2ndH: 5-11 45.5% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 42.9% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 1-5 20.0% 2ndH: 8-13 61.5% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 50.0% 3
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 14-12, 7-6 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 * 3-11 1-4 2-2 5 2 7 3 9 0 2 2 1 24
12 Davis, Aaron * 6-11 4-6 2-2 0 3 3 0 18 2 0 0 0 28
20 Walker, Jamaar * 5-10 0-2 2-5 1 2 3 3 12 13 0 0 2 38
30 Wright, Cornellius * 6-7 0-1 4-6 2 4 6 5 16 1 1 0 1 16
33 Robinson, Sylbrin * 3-5 2-2 0-0 0 5 5 0 8 2 1 4 0 33
11 Martinez, Adrian 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 12
15 Keys, Derrell 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 2 1 0 3 23
21 Denishenko, Vadim 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1
41 Drain, Adam 4-5 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 9 0 0 0 1 6
42 Melvin, Lateef 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
52 Oliynyk, Gene 2-3 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 5 4 0 0 0 0 18
TEAM ........................................ 0 0 0 1
TOTALS 29-56 8-18 10-15 9 23 32 20 76 21 9 6 9 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 15-30 50.0% 2ndH: 14-26 53.8% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 51.8% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 4-9 44.4% 2ndH: 4-9 44.4% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 44.4% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 3-4 75.0% 2ndH: 7-11 63.6% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 66.7% 2
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OFFICIALS: Robert Patey, Ben Vasconcells, John Regan
TECHNICAL FOULS:
Vermont - none
Northeastern - none
ATTENDANCE: 802
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL
Vermont 22 37 59
Northeastern 37 39 76
PTS IN THE PAINT: Vermont - 28 Northeastern - 34
PTS OFF TURNOVERS: Vermont - 15 Northeastern - 14
2ND CHANCE POINTS: Vermont - 12 Northeastern - 13
FAST BREAK POINTS: Vermont - 02 Northeastern - 15
