Freshman forward Shawn James recorded the second triple-double in school history and junior guard Jose Juan Barea added 24 points and 10 assists as Northeastern clinched the No. 2 seed at next weekend's America East Championship with a 70-63 Senior Day win over Albany on Sunday afternoon at Solomon Court.
The victory gives the Huskies (19-8, 15-3 America East) the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament for the first time since the 1992-93 season and their first six-game winning streak since 1990-91.
Northeastern will play the winner of the 7-10 game in Binghamton, which will pit Stony Brook and Hartford. That game will take place Saturday, March 5 at 6 p.m.
James was a one-man show, scoring 15 points, grabbing a career-high 17 rebounds, and blocking 11 shots, tying his school record. He posted the first triple-double in the annals of NU basketball Dec. 30 against Iona.
Northeastern scored the game's first 10 points, while the Great Danes (13-14, 9-9) missed their first 12 shots. Brent Wilson ended the drought with a layup at 13:21.
The Huskies stretched the lead to six, 18-12, on senior guard Marcus Barnes' fastbreak layup with 7:43 left in the half. Barnes, playing in his final game at Solomon Court, had a rough afternoon, scoring just five points on 2-of-7 shooting.
Albany took a brief 28-27 lead with 17 seconds to play in the half on Levi Levine's layup, but Barea answered with a jumper with nine seconds left, giving Northeastern a 29-28 advantage at the break.
The Huskies stormed out of the locker room, scoring 19 of the first 21 points of the second half to open up a 48-30 lead. James scored nine points in that stretch, while Barea and sophomore forward Bennet Davis had four apiece.
Albany kept fighting, out-scoring the Huskies 24-12 over the next 10 minutes. Jamar Wilson's layup with 2:56 to play pulled the Great Danes within six, 60-54.
After Barnes then nailed a big three-pointer to give the Huskies a little breathing room, Brent Wilson made a layup with just over a minute left to make it 65-59.
Lucious Jordan's layup with 19 seconds on the clock made it a five-point game, but NU made its free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win. Barea and junior forward Janon Cole combined to go 5-for-5 from the line in the final 29 seconds to seal the win.
Davis finished with 13 points and eight rebounds for the Huskies, who out-shot Albany, 56.0 percent to 32.4 percent, in the second half.
The Great Danes were led by Jordan's 13 points. Levine and Wilson each had 12.
Official Basketball Box Score
Albany vs Northeastern
02/27/05 1:00 pm at Solomon Court (Boston, Mass.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: Albany 13-14, 9-9 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 Jordan, Lucious..... * 4-13 1-6 4-6 2 3 5 3 13 1 2 0 1 39
11 Levine, Levi........ * 5-12 0-2 2-2 1 3 4 5 12 4 2 0 1 28
12 Zoellner, Kirsten... * 2-5 0-0 1-2 3 2 5 1 5 1 1 0 0 28
31 Wilson, Jamar....... * 4-15 2-3 2-3 3 3 6 5 12 0 2 0 0 36
44 St. Hillaire, A..... * 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 9
02 Johnson, Courtney... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
20 Lillis, Brian....... 4-9 1-2 1-1 2 3 5 4 10 2 2 0 6 26
21 Wyatt, Christopher.. 0-2 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 1 6
34 Wilson, Brent....... 4-13 1-6 0-0 3 6 9 2 9 0 0 0 2 27
TEAM................ 1 3 4
Totals.............. 23-71 5-19 12-16 16 25 41 22 63 8 9 1 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-34 32.4% 2nd Half: 12-37 32.4% Game: 32.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 3-12 25.0% Game: 26.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 8-11 72.7% Game: 75.0% 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: Northeastern 19-8, 15-3 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...... * 2-7 1-4 0-0 0 3 3 4 5 0 4 0 0 26
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... * 6-13 0-2 12-15 0 4 4 2 24 10 3 0 0 37
14 Davis, Bennet....... * 6-11 1-2 0-0 2 6 8 3 13 1 5 2 0 33
21 James, Shawn........ * 5-11 0-1 5-5 4 13 17 5 15 1 2 11 2 27
22 Kelly, Bobby........ * 3-6 0-2 1-2 0 2 2 0 7 1 0 0 2 36
11 Martinez, Adrian.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 7
12 Davis, Aaron........ 1-4 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 14
33 Cole, Janon......... 0-1 0-0 2-4 0 4 4 0 2 1 1 0 0 13
50 Washington, Mark.... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 7
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 24-54 2-13 20-26 8 33 41 17 70 14 17 13 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-29 34.5% 2nd Half: 14-25 56.0% Game: 44.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-10 10.0% 2nd Half: 1-3 33.3% Game: 15.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-8 100 % 2nd Half: 12-18 66.7% Game: 76.9% 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Thomas Lopes, Richard Antonelli, Jeff Bryant
Technical fouls: Albany-None. Northeastern-None.
Attendance: 941
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Albany........................ 28 35 - 63
Northeastern.................. 29 41 - 70
Points in the paint-ALBANY 34,NU 40. Points off turnovers-ALBANY 12,NU 9.
2nd chance points-ALBANY 17,NU 10. Fast break points-ALBANY 6,NU 14.
Bench points-ALBANY 21,NU 6. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-2 times.
Last FG-ALBANY 2nd-00:03, NU 2nd-02:32.
