Marcus Barnes broke a 72-72 tie with three-pointers on consecutive possessions, getting passes from Jose Juan Barea, who recorded a career-high 14 assists, as the Huskies defeated UMBC, 81-78, in front of 755 fans at Solomon Court.
UMBC, which never led during the game, fought back to cut it to 80-78, but Barnes iced the game with a free throw to put NU up by three with one second left.
Barea's 14 assists tied him with George Robinson for the second most in a game in school history. It also was the most this season in America East. Barea now has 128 assists in his NU career, placing him 10th in school history.
The sophomore point guard also chipped in 12 points, giving him his second consecutive double-double and third of the season.
Barnes led the Huskies (16-9, 10-4) with a game-high 22 points on 7-for-13 shooting. Andrew Feeley led the Retrievers with 22 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
Northeastern opened up a 17-point lead, at 54-37, on a Javorie Wilson three with 15:34 left to play, but the Retrievers went on a 20-5 run over the next 6:23 to get within two, at 59-57, with 9:09 showing on the clock.
The Huskies built the lead back up to six, at 63-57, on a Sylbrin Robinson layup a minute later, but UMBC wouldn't go away, tying the game at 72-72 on a three-ball by Kareem Washington with just over two minutes left.
The Retrievers used their size advantage to get many of their hoops around the basket. They shot 59 percent from the field (34-for-58) and scored 56 points in the paint. NU scored 38 points in the paint while shooting 47 percent (29-for-62).
The difference was the Huskies' outside shooting as they made 10 three-pointers (10-for-25) while UMBC only had two (2-for-9).
The teams traded baskets in the early going before NU took control, with Barea breaking a 5-5 tie with a three-pointer. From there, the Huskies scored nine of the next 11 points, taking a 17-7 lead with 12:40 left in the first.
The Retrievers (7-16, 4-10) stayed close, but the Huskies were able to capitalize on 11 UMBC first-half turnovers. With 4:33 left, Barea made a nifty no-look pass behind his back to Jesse Dunn, who converted a three-point play to give NU a 36-21 lead, its biggest of the half.
UMBC went on a 9-1 run before the end of the half, cutting the lead to 37-30, but Javorie Wilson dunked the ball on a pass from Barnes to put the Huskies up 39-30 at the break.
The Huskies had five double-digit scorers. Sylbrin Robinson had 14 points and eight rebounds, Wilson scored 13 points and Dunn added 11 points off the bench.
With the win, the Huskies secured a winning season, giving them consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1989-90 and 1990-91. The win also gives them 10 America East wins, the most since 1994-95.
The Huskies continue their march towards the America East tournament when they travel to Binghamton to take on the Bearcats on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m.
VISITORS: UMBC 7-16, 4-10
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
10 Gogerty, Rob........ * 2-6 0-1 0-1 0 3 3 3 4 6 3 1 0 28
12 Pugh, Chris......... * 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 3 3 4 1 5 0 0 0 25
25 McJimson, Cory...... * 5-9 0-0 3-4 1 2 3 2 13 1 1 0 2 31
33 Zito, John.......... * 1-5 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 3 0 0 9
45 Young, Eugene....... * 1-3 0-0 0-0 4 5 9 2 2 0 1 1 1 12
05 Washington, Kareem.. 6-13 2-7 1-1 0 2 2 3 15 8 2 0 2 33
14 Fisk, Bobby......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
22 Davis, Seth......... 4-4 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 2 8 1 3 1 1 24
40 Feckoua, Serge...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
44 Housman, Mike....... 4-4 0-0 3-4 1 0 1 1 11 2 1 0 0 10
52 Feeley, Andrew...... 11-14 0-0 0-0 2 7 9 3 22 0 3 1 1 27
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 34-58 2-9 8-12 11 27 38 21 78 23 17 4 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-26 50.0% 2nd Half: 21-32 65.6% Game: 58.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 1-5 20.0% Game: 22.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 5-8 62.5% Game: 66.7% 3
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 16-9, 10-4
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...... * 7-13 3-7 5-8 0 2 2 0 22 4 1 0 3 35
04 Wilson, Javorie..... * 5-10 3-4 0-0 1 3 4 1 13 2 2 3 0 34
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... * 5-17 2-7 0-2 0 1 1 3 12 14 2 0 3 38
14 Davis, Bennet....... * 2-4 0-1 1-2 1 1 2 2 5 0 2 0 1 22
33 Robinson, Sylbrin... * 6-11 1-3 1-3 5 3 8 3 14 0 2 2 3 28
22 Kelly, Bobby........ 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 7
30 Wright, Cornellius.. 1-2 0-0 2-3 1 0 1 2 4 1 1 0 0 11
32 Dunn, Jesse......... 3-5 1-3 4-4 0 2 2 1 11 0 0 0 1 19
42 Melvin, Lateef...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 29-62 10-25 13-23 11 14 25 14 81 21 10 5 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-36 44.4% 2nd Half: 13-26 50.0% Game: 46.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-14 28.6% 2nd Half: 6-11 54.5% Game: 40.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-5 60.0% 2nd Half: 10-18 55.6% Game: 56.5% 5
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Officials: Robert Patey, Gary Agger, Gary Pucino
Technical fouls: UMBC-None. Northeastern-None.
Attendance: 755
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
UMBC.......................... 30 48 - 78
Northeastern.................. 39 42 - 81
Points in the paint-UMBC 56,NU 38. Points off turnovers-UMBC 15,NU 31.
2nd chance points-UMBC 12,NU 10. Fast break points-UMBC 12,NU 17.
Bench points-UMBC 56,NU 15. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-UMBC 2nd-00:02, NU 2nd-01:13.
