Junior guard Jose Juan Barea put on a one-man show Saturday night, tying the school record with 41 points to lead No. 2 Northeastern past No. 7 Stony Brook, 90-79, in the quarterfinals of the America East Championship at the Events Center in Vestal, N.Y.
The Huskies (20-8) will face No. 6 Maine, which upset No. 2 Boston University, Sunday, March 6 at 2:30 p.m. The game will be shown live on Fox Sports New England.
"I felt the team was very confident," 2004-05 America East Coach of the Year Ron Everhart said. "After a week off, you never know how you're team's going to come out. We were rusty in spots, but we came out in the second half and kept attacking."
The 41 points, most of which came on slashing drives to the hoop, are a career high for Barea and tie Reggie Lewis' Northeastern record. His previous career high was 38, which he netted in the 2003 America East quarterfinals against the Black Bears. Barea's point total is the second most in the history of the tournament and is a record for a quarterfinal game. His 17 made field goals tie a conference tournament mark as well as Lewis' Northeastern record.
The Seawolves (12-17) took a 12-7 lead on a basket by Mike Popoko 2:32 into the game. NU came back with a 10-0 run, with junior forward Janon Cole scoring the last four points of that stretch.
The Huskies opened up their largest lead of the first half, 40-27, on a pair of free throws by sophomore forward Bennet Davis with four minutes left.
Popoko cut the deficit to seven, 40-33, on a tip-in following a missed free throw.
Northeastern took a 49-38 lead into the locker room. The 49 first-half points tie a season high. The Huskies shot a blistering 60 percent (18-for-30) in the first 20 minutes.
Popoko scored eight of Stony Brook's first 11 points of the second half, including six on a pair of threes. His bucket with 17:20 remaining brought his team within three, 52-49.
The Huskies retaliated with a 12-3 run to open up a 64-52 lead. Barea had half of those points.
Cori Spencer's three-point play with 11:33 to play made it 64-59, but Barea had an answer, dropping in layups on consecutive possessions to give NU a 68-60 advantage. He then found junior guard Aaron Davis for an alley-oop layup the next time down the floor, and the Huskies led by 10. Barea also had eight assists and six rebounds.
Mike Orfini scored with 8:19 left to bring his team within eight, 75-67, but Barea made a jumper and Cole, who stepped up with 2004-05 America East Rookie and Defensive Player of the Year Shawn James in foul trouble much of the game, stuck back a missed three-pointer to increase the bulge to 12.
Cole finished with 13 points and nine rebounds. Senior guard Marcus Barnes chipped in with 16.
Popoko led five Seawolves in double figures with 22 points. Bobby Santiago added 15, Spencer scored 14, and Orfini and Antwan Hardy each netted 10.
The 90 points are a season high. The win is the 20th of the season for the Huskies, giving them their first 20-win season since 1992-93.
Official Basketball Box Score
Stony Brook vs Northeastern
03/05/05 6 p.m. at Events Center, Vestal, N.Y.
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VISITORS: Stony Brook (12-17)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 Hardy, Antwan....... * 4-16 1-5 1-1 3 2 5 4 10 3 2 0 0 33
21 Santiago, Bobby..... * 5-15 2-6 3-4 1 2 3 4 15 3 0 0 1 37
30 McCollum, Jairus.... * 3-8 0-0 0-1 0 6 6 4 6 1 5 1 0 23
33 Popoko, Mike........ * 9-14 4-7 0-0 4 6 10 2 22 1 1 1 0 37
34 Spencer, Cori....... * 5-11 0-0 4-4 7 6 13 3 14 2 4 0 2 39
05 Feist, Hendrik...... 1-5 0-4 0-0 1 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 11
13 Orfini, Mike........ 4-6 1-1 1-2 4 3 7 1 10 1 1 0 0 19
44 Kobryn, JonPaul..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 31-75 8-23 9-12 20 26 46 19 79 12 13 2 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-39 43.6% 2nd Half: 14-36 38.9% Game: 41.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-8 25.0% 2nd Half: 6-15 40.0% Game: 34.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 7-8 87.5% Game: 75.0% 1
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern (20-8)
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...... * 6-12 2-6 2-7 0 3 3 0 16 1 0 0 3 33
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... * 17-32 2-8 5-8 1 5 6 2 41 8 4 0 0 36
14 Davis, Bennet....... * 1-3 0-0 2-2 0 6 6 2 4 0 1 4 1 25
21 James, Shawn........ * 3-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 4 6 0 0 3 0 10
22 Kelly, Bobby........ * 2-2 2-2 0-0 0 3 3 0 6 0 1 0 0 28
11 Martinez, Adrian.... 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 0 1 4
12 Davis, Aaron........ 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 1 1 0 0 19
33 Cole, Janon......... 5-6 0-0 3-4 4 5 9 2 13 0 1 0 1 30
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 15
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 36-64 6-19 12-21 8 26 34 14 90 10 9 7 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 18-30 60.0% 2nd Half: 18-34 52.9% Game: 56.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-13 38.5% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 31.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-12 66.7% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 57.1% 3
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Officials: Tim O'Brien, Bob Patey, John Regan
Technical fouls: Stony Brook-None. Northeastern-None.
Attendance:
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Stony Brook................... 38 41 - 79
Northeastern.................. 49 41 - 90
2005 Choice Hotels America East Men's Championship.
Northeastern advances to Sunday's 2:30 p.m. semifinal.
Points in the paint-SBU 36,NU 52. Points off turnovers-SBU 6,NU 17.
2nd chance points-SBU 25,NU 12. Fast break points-SBU 0,NU 8.
Bench points-SBU 12,NU 17. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-5 times.
Last FG-SBU 2nd-00:40, NU 2nd-00:50.
