Senior Marcus Barnes' steal and layup with 1:35 remaining in the game broke a 70-70 tie and propelled Northeastern to a 77-75 victory over Boston University Wednesday night in front of 3,150 loud fans at Matthews Arena.
The win was the Huskies' sixth in their last seven games and broke a four-game losing streak to the Terriers.
“We're starting to mature as a team,” head coach Ron Everhart said. “It feels like we're gelling.”
Barnes, who scored 10 points on the night, stripped BU's Kevin Gardner, ran down the court and laid the ball in to put the Huskies (10-6, 6-1) up for good.
Junior Jose Juan Barea followed with a layup of his own to give NU a 74-70 lead.
The teams traded free throws before BU's Etienne Brower missed the potential game-tying jumper with one second left.
Barea had a spectacular night, shooting 56 percent (9-for-16) from the field, scoring 30 points and recording nine assists. Junior Aaron Davis chipped in with 16 points.
“Aaron is getting back to his freshman form,” Everhart said.
The Huskies started the game slow, falling behind 14-5 less than five minutes into the game. BU ran right into the paint and scored on NU, nailing six layups on their first seven field goals.
Northeastern, however, got a boost in the middle from freshman Shawn James, who returned after missing the team's last four games due to academic matters. James swatted five shots and pulled down three rebounds in helping NU establish a presence in the paint.
"Getting Shawn back really helped us," Everhart said.
Late in the first half, Barea scored eight consecutive points for the Huskies to give them a 37-34 lead, before BU scored four points to take a 38-37 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, the Huskies had a 44-38 lead at 18:12, but the Terriers stormed back, going on an 11-0 run, capped by Rashad Bell's jumper with 14:19 remaining.
BU (11-5, 5-2) built up a six-point lead at 59-53 with 11:20 left, before NU came back to tie it at 65-65 when Davis hit a free throw with 4:19 to play.
The Terriers led again at 68-66 with 3:30 left, but James then made two blocks on consecutive Terrier possessions to keep NU within striking distance.
From there, Davis tied the game at 70-70 with a layup and a free throw, leading to Barnes' critical steal.
Bell led the Terriers with 17 points, while Brower had 12 and Shawn Wynn added 10 points.
The Huskies take over sole possession of second place in America East. They will hit the road to play Maine on Sunday, Jan. 23 at 1 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Boston University vs Northeastern
01/19/05 8:00 pm at Matthews Arena (Boston, Mass.)
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VISITORS: Boston University 11-5, 5-2 AE
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
02 Wolff, Matt......... * 1-2 0-1 0-0 1 2 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 22
20 Wynn, Shawn......... * 3-9 2-4 3-4 0 2 2 4 11 2 1 0 1 24
21 Brower, Etienne..... * 4-10 1-1 3-5 4 2 6 2 12 0 0 1 0 26
22 Carr, Chaz.......... * 3-9 1-4 2-2 0 2 2 4 9 5 2 0 1 33
31 Gardner, Kevin...... * 4-4 0-0 0-0 2 7 9 4 8 1 2 0 1 26
03 Geffen, Bryan....... 2-3 0-0 4-4 0 3 3 1 8 2 2 0 0 20
13 Bell, Rashad........ 5-11 0-0 7-8 3 4 7 2 17 2 2 2 1 33
23 Gaffney, Tony....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
50 Peterkin, Omari..... 4-5 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 8 0 2 0 0 12
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 26-54 4-11 19-23 10 24 34 18 75 12 12 3 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-31 54.8% 2nd Half: 9-23 39.1% Game: 48.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 3-7 42.9% Game: 36.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 16-19 84.2% Game: 82.6% 2
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 10-6, 6-1 AE
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...... * 4-12 1-4 1-2 2 1 3 3 10 0 1 0 3 33
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... * 9-16 4-9 8-10 1 3 4 3 30 9 3 0 2 34
14 Davis, Bennet....... * 3-4 0-0 0-0 0 7 7 1 6 3 2 1 3 33
22 Kelly, Bobby........ * 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 9
33 Cole, Janon......... * 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 13
11 Martinez, Adrian.... 2-5 1-2 0-0 0 2 2 1 5 1 0 0 0 11
12 Davis, Aaron........ 5-8 2-3 4-5 2 3 5 1 16 1 2 0 1 33
21 James, Shawn........ 3-7 0-1 1-2 1 2 3 4 7 1 0 5 0 27
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 7
TEAM................ 2 1 3 1
Totals.............. 27-57 8-19 15-21 9 20 29 19 77 16 9 6 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-32 40.6% 2nd Half: 14-25 56.0% Game: 47.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 7-13 53.8% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 42.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 11-16 68.8% Game: 71.4% 3
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Officials: Fran Connolly, Jeffrey Smith, Jeff Nichols
Technical fouls: Boston University-None. Northeastern-None.
Attendance: 3150
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Boston University............. 38 37 - 75
Northeastern.................. 37 40 - 77
Points in the paint-BU 32,NU 36. Points off turnovers-BU 10,NU 15.
2nd chance points-BU 13,NU 8. Fast break points-BU 6,NU 14.
Bench points-BU 33,NU 29. Score tied-8 times. Lead changed-17 times.
Last FG-BU 2nd-00:25, NU 2nd-00:39.
