Jose Juan Barea scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half and Bennet Davis added a career-high 18 as Northeastern beat Hartford, 73-61, Wednesday night at Chase Family Arena.
The win is the Huskies' ninth against America East opponents this season, the most they've had since 1997-98, when they went 9-9 in conference play.
After Aaron Cook got Hartford within five, at 60-55, on a three-pointer with 4:05 to play, Barea took matters into his own hands.
He made a layup on NU's next possession. After the teams traded free throws, Barea then made four straight shots from the charity stripe, widening the margin to nine, at 67-56.
Northeastern (15-9, 9-4) made just 36 percent (5-for-14) of its free throws in the first half, but it was on the mark when it counted, going 13-for-19 (68 percent) in the second, including 8-of-10 in the final 1:46.
Barea's free throw with 14:08 left in the game gave NU a 44-34 lead, but Hartford went on a 13-2 run over the next 5:45, taking its first lead of the game, at 47-46, on a Sean Regan layup with 8:23 showing on the clock.
The Huskies responded with a 12-2 run of their own, re-taking the lead and extending it to 58-49 on a tough, left-handed layup by Barea with 4:39 left to play.
NU pulled down a season-high 52 rebounds. Cornellius Wright corralled a career-high 11 boards and Sylbrin Robinson had nine.
Northeastern opened up a 17-7 lead on a Bennet Davis layup with 11:56 to play in the first, but Hartford went on a 12-2 run, capped by a Bernard Lowndes jumper, to tie it at 19-19.
The Huskies' widened the lead to five on Javorie Wilson's three-pointer with 5:47 left in the first, but Cook brought the Hawks even, at 28-28, with a three-ball at the 2:23 mark.
Wilson scored NU's last five points of the half, including a running layup as the horn sounded, to give his team a 33-30 lead heading into the locker room.
The Huskies held Hartford to 31.8 percent (21-for-66) shooting in the game. The Hawks (9-12, 4-8) were led by Cook's 20.
Northeastern hosts UMBC on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 1 p.m
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Northeastern vs Hartford
02/11/04 9:30 PM at Chase Family Arena (W. Hartford, Conn.)
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VISITORS: Northeastern 15-9, 9-4
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...... * 3-8 1-5 1-2 0 4 4 2 8 0 3 0 0 31
04 Wilson, Javorie..... * 4-8 2-5 0-2 3 3 6 4 10 2 4 1 0 33
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... * 6-15 2-7 7-12 1 9 10 2 21 6 3 0 2 35
14 Davis, Bennet....... * 7-8 0-1 4-5 2 1 3 2 18 1 1 1 0 25
33 Robinson, Sylbrin... * 4-5 0-0 4-6 2 7 9 3 12 4 3 3 1 34
02 Youmans, D'wan...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 3
22 Kelly, Bobby........ 0-6 0-4 2-4 1 2 3 2 2 1 1 0 0 17
30 Wright, Cornellius.. 1-4 0-0 0-0 3 8 11 1 2 0 1 0 1 16
32 Dunn, Jesse......... 0-1 0-1 0-2 2 1 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 5
42 Melvin, Lateef...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 1 2 3 1
Totals.............. 25-56 5-24 18-33 15 37 52 21 73 14 18 5 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-29 41.4% 2nd Half: 13-27 48.1% Game: 44.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-14 28.6% 2nd Half: 1-10 10.0% Game: 20.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-14 35.7% 2nd Half: 13-19 68.4% Game: 54.5% 8
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HOME TEAM: Hartford 9-12, 4-8
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
04 Cook, Aaron......... * 5-17 4-14 6-8 1 4 5 1 20 1 3 0 2 35
20 Stys, Ryan.......... * 3-12 0-5 2-5 1 6 7 5 8 1 1 0 3 34
22 Baker, Rich......... * 2-9 0-3 2-2 1 1 2 4 6 2 1 0 0 24
33 Regan, Sean......... * 2-4 0-0 1-2 2 6 8 4 5 1 1 0 0 28
34 Taylor, Bo.......... * 4-9 0-0 3-4 3 3 6 4 11 1 1 0 4 32
10 Ford, Charles....... 3-8 1-5 0-1 3 1 4 4 7 3 4 0 0 26
15 Lowndes, Bernard.... 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 4 2 0 2 0 0 4
21 Bosley, Louis....... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 8
55 Zimnickas, Alex..... 0-2 0-1 0-1 1 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 9
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 21-66 5-28 14-23 15 23 38 29 61 9 14 1 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-34 32.4% 2nd Half: 10-32 31.3% Game: 31.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-13 15.4% 2nd Half: 3-15 20.0% Game: 17.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-10 60.0% 2nd Half: 8-13 61.5% Game: 60.9% 2
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Officials: Paul Faia, Jeffrey Smith, John Hughes
Technical fouls: Northeastern-Wilson, Javorie; Barnes, Marcus.
Hartford-None.
Attendance: 1303
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 33 40 - 73
Hartford...................... 30 31 - 61
Points in the paint-NU 30,UH 22. Points off turnovers-NU 18,UH 16.
2nd chance points-NU 8,UH 17. Fast break points-NU 0,UH 0.
Bench points-NU 4,UH 11. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-2 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-00:25, UH 2nd-00:51.
