Jose Juan Barea scored 25 points, including the 1,000th of his career, to lead Northeastern to an 80-62 win over Albany in its regular season finale Feb. 29 at the Recreation and Convocation Center.
The third-seeded Huskies (19-10, 13-5) will play No. 6 Hartford on Saturday, March 6 in the quarterfinals of the America East tournament at Walter Brown Arena. The game will start approximately a half-hour after the conclusion of the 6 p.m. game, which features Vermont and the winner of New Hampshire-Albany.
Barea's pull-up jumper just inside the three-point line with 18:26 left gave NU a 46-41 lead and Barea 1,001 points in his career, making him the 25th Husky to reach the 1,000-point mark. He did it in his 53rd game, third fastest in program history, behind only Reggie Lewis (51 games) and Pete Harris (52).
Levi Levine's basket with 13:35 left brought UA (5-22, 3-15) within five, 52-47, but NU scored the next eight points -- four by Barea -- to open up a 60-47 lead.
Two Chris Wyatt foul shots made it a 60-52 game with 9:05 left, but the Huskies went on an 11-4 run -- capped by a pair of Javorie Wilson free throws with 3:22 on the clock -- to give them a 71-56 lead and seal the win.
Barea was 8-for-12 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from behind the arc. Barnes added 14 points, Bennet Davis had 11, and Wilson chipped in with 10. Levine led three Great Danes in double figures with 20 points.
The Great Danes were 14-of-15 (93 percent) from the free-throw line, but just 4-of-19 (21 percent) from long range.
NU got out of the gates quickly, scoring the game's first eight points. Davis sandwiched a layup between three-pointers by Barnes and Wilson.
The Huskies scored six straight points to widen the lead to 19-4 with 12:11 remaining. In that stretch, Barea hit a free throw and a three-pointer, and Cornellius Wright made a layup.
Davis' turnaround jumper with 10:18 left put NU up 24-7, but UA scored the next six points to cut the deficit to 11, 24-13.
Todd Martin's three-pointer at 4:20 sliced the NU bulge to five, 33-28, but Barea answered right back with a trey to expand the Husky advantage to eight, 36-28.
Wyatt made a layup with 16 seconds left to bring Albany within six, 40-34, but Barnes drilled a long three-pointer just before the buzzer to give the Huskies a 43-34 halftime lead.
Northeastern shot 62 percent (16-for-26) from the field in the first half.
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Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Northeastern vs Albany
02/29/04 1:05 p.m. at Albany, N.Y. (Recreation & Conv. Center)
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VISITORS: Northeastern (19-10, 13-5 AE)
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 2-10 1-6 5-5 2 3 5 2 10 3 1 0 0 32
14 Davis, Bennett...... f 4-5 0-0 3-5 0 5 5 3 11 1 2 1 2 24
33 Robinson, Sylbrin... c 3-5 0-0 2-4 3 7 10 1 8 4 1 2 1 31
03 Barnes, Marcus...... g 4-12 4-9 2-2 2 1 3 3 14 1 5 0 2 34
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... g 8-12 3-5 6-9 0 0 0 4 25 1 1 0 0 26
01 Popoola, Dipo....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
02 Youmans, D'wan...... 1-2 0-1 1-2 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 8
22 Kelly, Bobby........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 15
30 Wright, Cornellius.. 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 2 1 0 1 0 9
32 Dunn, Jesse......... 2-4 0-1 3-3 0 2 2 2 7 0 0 0 0 16
42 Melvin, Lateef...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 4
TEAM................ 4 2 6
Totals.............. 25-52 8-22 22-30 12 24 36 16 80 15 11 4 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-26 61.5% 2nd Half: 9-26 34.6% Game: 48.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 7-14 50.0% 2nd Half: 1-8 12.5% Game: 36.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 18-23 78.3% Game: 73.3% 2
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HOME TEAM: Albany (5-22, 3-15 AE)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
11 LEVINE, Levi........ f 8-13 2-6 2-2 0 1 1 4 20 3 1 0 3 34
44 ST. HILLAIRE, A..... f 3-8 0-0 1-1 3 6 9 5 7 6 1 0 1 30
21 WYATT, Chris........ c 4-7 0-0 5-6 2 2 4 5 13 0 2 0 2 32
02 JOHNSON, Courtney... g 2-5 0-2 6-6 2 4 6 5 10 2 3 0 0 32
14 IATI, Jon........... g 3-14 1-9 0-0 0 2 2 2 7 2 3 0 0 40
01 MARTIN, Todd........ 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 2 2 1 3 1 2 0 0 14
03 MACCALLA, Kenny..... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 2
23 KNOTTS, Jerrad...... 0-5 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 16
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 22-55 4-19 14-15 9 21 30 24 62 14 12 0 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-27 48.1% 2nd Half: 9-28 32.1% Game: 40.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 1-10 10.0% Game: 21.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 9-9 100 % Game: 93.3% 1
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Officials: Fran Connolly, William Laubenstein, Joseph Pescitelli
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. Albany-None.
Attendance: 741
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 43 37 - 80
Albany........................ 34 28 - 62
