Northeastern led by 10 at the half, but Birmingham-Southern out-scored the Huskies 48-27 in the final 20 minutes to down the Huskies, 81-70, in an opening-round game at the Pepsi Marist Classic in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., spoiling their 2004-05 season debut.
NU (0-1) led 43-33 coming out of the locker room, but BSC started the second half on a 19-6 run, taking a 52-49 lead on James Collins' three-pointer with 14:20 to play. Included in that was a three-minute stretch when the Panthers scored 11 straight points.
Collins led the Panthers (2-1) with a career-high 20 points, 15 of which came in the second half.
Sophomore forward Bennet Davis broke the NU drought with a medium-range jumper with 14 minutes left. He single-handedly kept the Huskies in the game, scoring 10 of their first 14 second-half points, including two free throws that made it 60-57.
Augustinas Vitas' layup increased BSC's lead to 62-57, but Bobby Kelly's uncontested dunk cut the deficit to three with just over eight minutes left.
Two free throws by junior Jose Juan Barea with 4:36 remaining made it 68-63, but BSC ran off the next 11 points to put the game away. Shema Margeirsson punctuated that run with a one-handed, follow-up slam off a miss by Jakob Sigurdarson, who scored 16.
Northeastern jumped out to a 7-0 lead thanks to a pair of layups by senior guard Marcus Barnes sandwiched around a Barea three-point play. Barea and Barnes combined to score the team's first 11 points overall.
BSC tied it at 18-18 on two Collins free throws. Barnes scored the Huskies' next eight points on two three-pointers and a tough fading jumper.
A three by Rostislav Vergun cut it to 26-24, but Barnes fed Davis on an alley-oop with 6:27 left in the half to push the lead back up to four. Of the first 24 points scored by the Panthers, who led the nation in three-point shooting last season, 18 came on treys.
Sophomore guard Adrian Martinez's three gave just before the halftime buzzer gave NU a 10-point lead, its largest of the game, heading into the locker room. Of Northeastern's 43 first-half points, Barnes (18) and Barea (16) had 34.
Barea finished with a game-high 24 points and seven assists.
BSC held a decided 42-23 advantage on the glass, and shot 52 percent (16-of-31) in the second half compared to the Huskies' 32 (9-of-28).
Northeastern has lost its last six season-openers. It faces the loser of tonight's second game, which pits Cornell and Marist, Saturday at 5 p.m. in the consolation game.
Official Basketball Box Score
Birmingham Southern College vs Northeastern University
11/19/04 5:00 pm at McCann Center, Poughkeepsie, NY
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VISITORS: Birmingham Southern College 2-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
33 VIGLIANCO, Thomas... f 3-5 2-2 3-4 2 3 5 4 11 1 2 0 1 20
11 VITAS, Augustinas... c 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 1 2 1 2 1 0 12
00 SIGURDARSON, Jakob.. g 6-15 1-5 3-4 1 3 4 1 16 4 4 0 0 30
10 COLLINS, James...... g 6-10 5-8 3-7 0 0 0 2 20 3 1 0 1 28
55 MONTRIMAS, Andrius.. g 0-3 0-2 0-1 1 1 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 7
01 BAH, Jean-Baptiste.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 9
04 MCMILLAN, Bucky..... 1-4 1-3 2-2 0 3 3 3 5 1 2 0 1 26
13 VERGUN, Rostislav... 1-3 1-2 0-0 1 3 4 0 3 1 0 1 0 8
15 MARGEIRSSON, Helgi.. 1-2 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 2 3 0 2 0 0 5
21 MBYIRUKIRA, Shema... 5-7 0-0 4-4 4 3 7 3 14 2 2 1 0 28
22 BAILEY, Joshua...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
31 GORE, Arnold........ 1-3 0-1 0-0 1 3 4 2 2 1 0 0 1 16
34 AMERSON, Jimmy...... 1-1 0-0 3-4 1 0 1 1 5 0 1 0 1 11
TEAM................ 4 3 7
Totals.............. 26-56 11-24 18-26 17 25 42 20 81 15 20 3 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-25 40.0% 2nd Half: 16-31 51.6% Game: 46.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-15 40.0% 2nd Half: 5-9 55.6% Game: 45.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-11 63.6% 2nd Half: 11-15 73.3% Game: 69.2% 5
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern University 0-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
14 Davis, Bennet....... f 5-11 0-1 3-5 2 2 4 3 13 0 2 0 0 32
33 Cole, Janon......... f 0-2 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 4 2 0 1 0 0 21
03 Barnes, Marcus...... g 6-9 4-6 2-2 0 2 2 3 18 0 6 0 1 30
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... g 8-20 0-8 8-8 0 3 3 3 24 7 5 0 4 31
12 Davis, Aaron........ g 1-5 1-5 0-0 1 3 4 1 3 1 1 0 1 30
10 Kirkland, Jerome.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 2 2 0 0 8
11 Martinez, Adrian.... 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 3
22 Kelly, Bobby........ 2-5 1-2 0-0 1 2 3 2 5 0 1 0 1 24
50 Washington, Mark.... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 4 2 0 0 0 0 21
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 24-55 7-23 15-17 8 15 23 22 70 11 18 0 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-27 55.6% 2nd Half: 9-28 32.1% Game: 43.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-13 46.2% 2nd Half: 1-10 10.0% Game: 30.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-8 87.5% 2nd Half: 8-9 88.9% Game: 88.2% 1
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Officials: Bill McCarthy, Gary Pucino, Michael Berry
Technical fouls: Birmingham Southern College-None. Northeastern
University-Davis, Bennet.
Attendance:
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Birmingham Southern College... 33 48 - 81
Northeastern University....... 43 27 - 70
