Senior Jose Juan Barea scored 22 points, while juniors Adrian Martinez and Bobby Kelly converted key free throws in the game's closing minute to lead Northeastern to an 86-83 victory over James Madison in its first-ever CAA contest played Saturday night at the JMU Convocation Center.
With Northeastern (5-1, 1-0 CAA) possessing an 80-70 lead with 2:44 to play, the Dukes (2-2, 0-1 CAA) rattled off five straight before sophomore Shawn James converted one of two free throws. Bobby Kelly then iced a pair from the line with 0:26 left to put NU up 83-75. James Madison junior Ray Barbosa pushed the ball up court and nailed a three with 15 seconds remaining, to cut the lead back to five. The Dukes forced a quick turnover and foul to get back to the line, where senior Jomo Balfor nailed both free throws to draw within three.
After the inbound, JMU freshman Colby Santos picked up a quick foul to put Martinez on the line. A rowdy JMU student section sprinted down the sideline of the court and positioned itself behind the hoop in an effort to fluster Martinez. However, Martinez converted the back end to give the Huskies a four-point lead. But Barbosa struck again, this time nailing a three to draw to within one with three seconds to play. James Madison fouled quickly on the inbound, this time sending Kelly to the line. Again in front of the wild crowd, Kelly drained both shots to go up 86-83 with two seconds left. A desperation three from midcourt caromed off the backboard and the Huskies pulled away victorious in their inaugural conference contest.
Barea led the way for Northeastern with 22 points, while senior Janon Cole recorded a career-high 17 points on seven-of-10 shooting. Senior Aaron Davis scored 14 points on the evening and James checked in with 13 despite playing just 23 minutes due to foul trouble. The Huskies shot 16-of-27 (56.3 percent) from the floor in the second half as they took the lead with 15:53 in the second half and never relinquished it.
For the Dukes, James led the way with a game-high 23 points and 15 rebounds, while junior Cavell Johnson scored 17 and pulled down 13 rebounds. Barbosa also nailed 17 points, as he converted three 3-point field goals and Belfor scored 13 to go with five assists. James Madison outrebounded the Huskies 49-36, as it secured 24 offensive rebounds on the night.
James Madison built an 11-5 at the 14:50 mark, after a miscommunication on a Northeastern inbounds led to a quick bucket by Belfor. However, the Huskies battled back with a 7-2 run over the next 1:37 to close the Dukes' lead to 13-12 with 13:13 to play. The team's battled back-and-forth until a layup by Cole gave the Huskies a 30-29 lead at the 5:05 mark. He would score eight of the Huskies' final 10 points in the half to help NU to a six-point advantage with 2:17 to play, but the Dukes closed the half on a 9-0 run led by four points from James to take a 41-38 lead into half.
During the opening half, the Dukes shot 48.4 percent from the floor (15-of-31), while holding the CAA's top-shooting offense to just 36.8 percent on 14-of-38. A very physical half left both James and Bennet Davis with three fouls and NU with 13 overall. Cole led all Huskies in the first 20 minutes with 10 points, while Barea struggled from the floor with a two-of-14 shooting performance for five points.
To start the second half, Barea converted four of his first six shots and hit Aaron Davis on a fast break to erase the early deficit and build a 54-47 lead 6:05 into the period. The Dukes drew to within three before the Huskies built their lead back to 72-64 as Aaron Davis converted a fast break layup and drew an intentional foul on senior Daniel Freeman with 6:32 to play. A basket and two free throws from Juwann James later and the Dukes closed to within four at 72-68. From there, Northeastern rattled off an 8-2 run to go up 80-70 before JMU began its comeback.
The Huskies return home next Wednesday for their first-ever home CAA contest in Matthews Arena, as they welcome Towson beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs James Madison
12/3/05 7 P.M. at JMU CONVOCATION CENTER/HARRISONBURG, VA.
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VISITORS: Northeastern 5-1, 1-0
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 1-2 0-1 1-2 2 2 4 4 3 1 1 2 1 15
21 James, Shawn........ f 3-6 0-0 7-8 2 5 7 4 13 1 2 2 0 23
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... g 9-27 3-10 1-2 1 3 4 1 22 6 1 0 0 35
12 Davis, Aaron........ g 5-10 2-6 2-4 1 3 4 1 14 3 1 1 2 35
22 Kelly, Bobby........ g 2-4 0-2 4-4 0 2 2 2 8 1 1 0 0 33
04 Cyprian, Chris...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
11 Martinez, Adrian.... 3-5 1-2 1-2 1 0 1 4 8 1 0 0 0 11
15 Farmer, Jeff........ 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 5
33 Cole, Janon......... 7-10 0-0 3-6 3 5 8 3 17 3 4 0 0 30
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-0 0-0 1-2 2 2 4 5 1 0 2 1 0 12
Team................ 2 2
Totals.............. 30-65 6-22 20-30 14 22 36 25 86 18 12 6 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-38 36.8% 2nd Half: 16-27 59.3% Game: 46.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-14 28.6% 2nd Half: 2-8 25.0% Game: 27.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-8 75.0% 2nd Half: 14-22 63.6% Game: 66.7% 5,1
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HOME TEAM: James Madison 2-2, 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
33 James, Juwann....... f 9-15 0-0 5-7 9 6 15 2 23 2 3 0 2 35
44 Johnson, Cavell..... f 7-13 0-1 3-5 4 9 13 4 17 1 0 0 0 28
14 Belfor, Jomo........ g 3-8 1-3 6-9 3 2 5 4 13 5 7 0 1 32
24 Santos, Colbey...... g 1-1 1-1 0-0 2 0 2 2 3 1 0 0 1 16
34 Barbosa, Ray........ g 7-18 3-8 0-2 1 0 1 0 17 0 3 0 2 34
01 Swanston, Kyle...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 8
03 Posey, Joe.......... 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
12 Lampley, Lewis...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 3 1 0 0 7
15 Chami, Gabriel...... 0-5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 1 10
22 Freeman, Daniel..... 1-6 1-4 1-2 1 4 5 4 4 2 1 0 0 21
50 Cathlin, Chris...... 1-1 0-0 2-3 0 3 3 1 4 0 0 0 0 7
Team................ 3 3
Totals.............. 30-69 6-18 17-29 24 25 49 22 83 15 17 0 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-31 48.4% 2nd Half: 15-38 39.5% Game: 43.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 4-11 36.4% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-17 52.9% 2nd Half: 8-12 66.7% Game: 58.6% 4,1
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Officials: Alan Spainhour, Clyde Owens, Joey Caruthers
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. James Madison-None.
Attendance: 4454
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 38 48 - 86
James Madison................. 41 42 - 83
Northeastern's first Colonial Athletic Association game
Foul Outs: Washington (NU) 7:02 2nd
Points in the paint-NU 38,JMU 30. Points off turnovers-NU 15,JMU 16.
2nd chance points-NU 14,JMU 20. Fast break points-NU 0,JMU 0.
Bench points-NU 26,JMU 10. Score tied-5 times. Lead changed-7 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-02:44, JMU 2nd-00:03.
