Sophomore guard Jose Juan Barea scored 20 points and Northeastern made all 11 of its free throws in the last 3:55 to hold off Albany, 77-70, Sunday afternoon in front of 802 at Solomon Court.
The Great Danes (3-10, 1-3 AE) led 57-52 with 5:21 to play, but the Huskies scored eight straight points -- four by Barea, two each by freshman forward Bennet Davis and senior forward Javorie Wilson -- to grab a 60-57 advantage with 3:55 left.
From there, the Huskies, who came into the game making 62 percent of their free throws, went 11-for-11 from the stripe. Barea started it with a foul shot following a made three-pointer, and he went 8-for-8 from the line after that. Wilson, who finished with 18 points and a career-high six assists, also converted a pair of free throws.
Barea's 9-for-9 from the line ties him with Dave Caligaris and Ty Mack for the seventh-best single-game performance in school history.
Davis, making his first-ever start, punctuated the win with an emphatic reverse dunk with five seconds left. He scored a career-high 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting.
Albany scored the first six points of the game, but Northeastern (9-6, 3-1 AE) responded with a 13-2 run over the next 5:28 to go up 13-8. A Barea layup with 6:41 left gave the Huskies their largest first-half lead, at 24-18. The Great Danes then rattled off eight straight points, capped by Aquawasi St. Hillaire's three-point play, to grab a 26-24 lead. Hillaire led UA with 19.
The Huskies led 33-31 at the break, and got it up to seven, at 38-31, a little over a minute into the second half after a basket by Sylbrin Robinson. Robinson fell one point short of recording his second double-double of the season, finishing wth nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Albany chipped away, regaining the lead, at 46-44, on a Jon Iati three with 11:49 on the clock. Jesse Dunn's free throw at the 7:54 mark gave NU a 52-51 advantage, but Albany scored the next six points.
The Huskies prevailed despite being out-shot 56 percent (28-for-50) to 40 percent (25-for-63). They forced 25 turnovers and out-rebounded the Great Danes, 34-28.
The team is back in action Wednesday, Jan. 14 when it hosts Hartford at 7 p.m.
VISITORS: Albany 3-10, 1-3 AE
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
02 Johnson, Courtney... * 4-6 0-1 4-7 0 4 4 3 12 5 3 0 2 40
11 Levine, Levi........ * 5-9 2-3 0-0 0 3 3 5 12 2 2 0 1 23
14 Iati, Jon........... * 6-16 2-6 4-4 0 0 0 3 18 5 7 0 1 40
21 Wyatt, Chris........ * 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 4 4 1 5 3 1 18
44 St. Hillaire, A..... * 9-12 0-0 1-1 0 7 7 1 19 2 3 3 1 40
01 Martin, Todd........ 2-3 1-2 0-0 2 4 6 2 5 1 2 0 0 17
22 Cheese, Marvin...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
23 Knotts, Jerrad...... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 0 2 1 0 1 22
TEAM................ 2 1 3 2
Totals.............. 28-50 5-12 9-12 4 24 28 21 70 18 25 6 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-24 54.2% 2nd Half: 15-26 57.7% Game: 56.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 3-7 42.9% Game: 41.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-3 100 % 2nd Half: 6-9 66.7% Game: 75.0% 3
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 9-6, 3-1 AE
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...... * 2-10 2-8 2-2 1 4 5 2 8 4 5 0 1 37
04 Wilson, Javorie..... * 7-16 1-7 3-3 1 2 3 2 18 6 2 0 0 36
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... * 4-12 3-6 9-9 2 3 5 3 20 3 3 0 0 36
14 Davis, Bennet....... * 7-8 1-1 1-3 2 1 3 3 16 0 3 2 2 31
33 Robinson, Sylbrin... * 3-10 0-1 3-6 5 7 12 2 9 2 4 1 3 34
02 Youmans, D'wan...... 0-2 0-1 0-0 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 2 10
22 Kelly, Bobby........ 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 6
32 Dunn, Jesse......... 1-4 0-0 1-2 3 1 4 1 3 0 0 0 0 10
TEAM................
Totals.............. 25-63 8-25 19-25 16 18 34 15 77 16 17 4 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-30 40.0% 2nd Half: 13-33 39.4% Game: 39.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-15 33.3% 2nd Half: 3-10 30.0% Game: 32.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-9 44.4% 2nd Half: 15-16 93.8% Game: 76.0% 4
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Officials: Jeff Plunkett, Stephen Uno, Richard Antonelli
Technical fouls: Albany-None. Northeastern-None.
Attendance: 802
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Albany........................ 31 39 - 70
Northeastern.................. 33 44 - 77
Points in the paint-UA 32,NU 32. Points off turnovers-UA 14,NU 17.
2nd chance points-UA 2,NU 13. Fast break points-UA 6,NU 15.
Bench points-UA 5,NU 6. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-9 times.
Last FG-UA 2nd-00:30, NU 2nd-00:05.
