Sophomore Jose Juan Barea stole the show on Saturday night, scoring 29 points to lead the Huskies to an 81-62 win over Maryland-Baltimore County at the RAC Arena in Baltimore, Md.
Barea's performance was highlighted by a two minute stretch in the final three minutes of regulation, where he hit three consecutive three-pointers from long range to put an exclamation point on the victory.
With the win, Northeastern improves to 11-6 overall and moves into a second place tie with Boston University at 5-1 in America East play. UMBC falls to 5-10 overall and 2-4 in league play.
The Huskies played back-and-forth basketball with the Retrievers for the first seven minutes of play, before a Sylbrin Robinson layup began a 13-4 run for Northeastern. A free throw from Bennet Davis gave NU its largest lead of the opening half, 30-19, with 7:56 on the clock.
UMBC kept chipping away, and cut the Northeastern lead to just four with 3:30 remaining. The teams would play evenly in the final minutes, but it was the Huskies that took a 39-35 lead into the locker room.
NU shot 51.9 percent from the field in the first, thanks in part to Javorie Wilson's early hot hand. Wilson had 13 points on 5-7 shooting, including 3-4 from three-point range. Jose Juan Barea also had a strong half Northeastern, leading the team with 16 points.
Northeastern began to break things open in the second half, leading by as many as 21 points with under a minute to play. A 15-5 run in the middle of the half gave NU breathing room before finishing off the Retrievers.
Also coming in with double figures in the game for Northeastern was Javorie Wilson, who finished with 20 points on 8-14 shooting, and Sylbrin Robinson, who finished with 17 points.
Northeastern returns to the court on Wednesday night when they host Binghamton at Solomon Court at 7 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs UMBC Retrievers
01-17-04 7:05 p.m. at RAC Arena, Baltimore, MD
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VISITORS: Northeastern 11-6, 5-1 AEC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
04 Wilson, Javorie..... f 8-14 4-8 0-0 2 4 6 2 20 0 0 0 2 37
14 Davis, Bennet....... f 1-5 0-1 3-6 0 3 3 2 5 1 2 0 0 26
33 Robinson, Sylbrin... c 7-10 0-1 3-6 2 6 8 2 17 1 1 2 3 35
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... g 10-21 5-8 4-6 2 3 5 0 29 7 3 0 0 37
22 Kelly, Bobby........ g 1-4 1-3 0-0 2 0 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 28
01 Popoola, Dipo....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
02 Youmans, D'wan...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 1 2 2 1 14
32 Dunn, Jesse......... 2-4 0-1 3-3 2 4 6 1 7 0 0 0 0 19
42 Melvin, Lateef...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 2 2 0 0 3
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 29-58 10-22 13-21 14 24 38 12 81 12 10 4 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-27 51.9% 2nd Half: 15-31 48.4% Game: 50.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-9 55.6% 2nd Half: 5-13 38.5% Game: 45.5% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-11 72.7% 2nd Half: 5-10 50.0% Game: 61.9% 3
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HOME TEAM: UMBC Retrievers 5-10, 2-4 AEC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
22 Davis, Seth......... f 6-12 0-1 1-2 5 4 9 2 13 1 2 0 0 32
25 McJimson, Cory...... f 8-16 0-0 4-6 2 0 2 0 20 4 0 1 1 38
45 Young, Eugene....... c 1-3 0-0 2-4 4 1 5 2 4 2 0 1 1 24
10 Gogerty, Rob........ g 7-14 3-7 0-0 0 4 4 3 17 4 2 0 1 37
12 Pugh, Chris......... g 1-5 0-2 0-0 0 3 3 2 2 0 1 0 0 25
05 Washington, Kareem.. 0-7 0-4 4-4 1 0 1 4 4 1 1 0 1 18
24 Dinkins, Jerrell.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0+
44 Housman, Michael.... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 0 15
52 Feeley, Andrew...... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 0 2 1 1 11
TEAM................ 3 5 8
Totals.............. 24-61 3-14 11-16 16 20 36 15 62 13 9 3 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-34 41.2% 2nd Half: 10-27 37.0% Game: 39.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-8 25.0% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 21.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 6-10 60.0% Game: 68.8% 2
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Officials: Michael Alvaro, Stephen Uno, Michael Rutherford
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. UMBC Retrievers-None.
Attendance: 2147
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 41 40 - 81
UMBC Retrievers............... 35 27 - 62
