Senior Bobby Kelly scored 11 points with five assists and three steals in 38 minutes of action to pace Northeastern in a 58-51 victory over UNC Wilmington in a CAA matchup played Saturday afternoon at Matthews Arena.
The victory improves the Huskies to 2-5 overall, 1-0 in conference play and gives Northeastern an impressive 11-1 record at Matthews Arena since joining the CAA at the start of last season. It is also the Huskies first victory over UNCW after dropping a pair of meetings last year.
The visiting Seahawks (2-4, 0-1 CAA) took a three-point advantage with 6:36 on the clock in the second half after a layup from junior Todd Hendley. UNC Wilmington had led for a large portion of the second half after erasing a seven-point deficit at the break.
However, the Huskies, paced by Kelly, used the next 5+ minutes to take the game back, by forcing four turnovers and hitting 10-of-12 free throws in that span. UNCW junior Jeff Horowitz hit a jumper with 2:40 remaining to even the score at 49, but NU rattled off a 9-0 run to seal the victory. The decisive play during the Husky run was Kelly's steal off a pass by Hendley, drawing the foul as he got out on the fast break. He connected on the first of two free throws and then hustled to grab his miss. Kelly and a Seahawk player scrambled for the loose ball and he managed to knock it off his opponent as it went out of bounds to maintain possession for Northeastern. Freshman Manny Adako used that extra possession to knock down two from the stripe and give NU a 56-49 advantage with just under a minute to play.
Similar to the Huskies' visit to Wilmington last season, the game was marked by defense. The Seahawks controlled the boards, staking a 49-31 advantage behind 16 rebounds from senior Temi Soyebo and a double-double effort of 20 points and 10 boards from junior Vladimir Kuljanin. However, the Huskies forced 18 UNCW turnovers, with nine steals. Senior Adrian Martinez chipped in with three swipes, while putting up 12 points. Also strong on the defensive end, senior Bennet Davis blocked a career-high seven shots and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds while putting up 12 points.
Northeastern shot 20-of-56 from the floor overall (35.7 percent), while UNCW connected on 20-of-61 (32.8 percent) for the game. The Huskies got hot at the right time at the free throw line, as they converted just 3-of-12 outside of their run. UNC Wilmington's trio of guards, freshman Montez Downey, junior Daniel Fountain, and Soyebo entered the game averaging a combined 35 points per game, but scored just 12 points overall and the team made just 2-of-17 attempts from 3-point range. Kuljanin was the Seahawks' go-to on offense, as he put up his 20 on 7-of-12 shooting and a perfect 6-of-6 at the line.
The Huskies travel to Connecticut on Wednesday evening for a showdown against UConn beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
UNC Wilmington vs Northeastern
12/02/06 1:00 pm at Matthews Arena (Boston, MA)
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VISITORS: UNC Wilmington 2-4,0-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 Downey, Montez...... * 3-12 2-8 0-0 1 2 3 0 8 0 3 0 0 22
04 Fountain, Daniel.... * 0-9 0-4 0-0 1 4 5 2 0 1 2 0 1 35
22 Soyebo, Temi........ * 2-8 0-1 0-1 3 13 16 3 4 6 5 1 0 38
32 Kuljanin, Vladimir.. * 7-12 0-0 6-6 3 7 10 4 20 1 2 0 0 29
41 Hendley, Todd....... * 3-9 0-1 1-1 3 1 4 5 7 1 2 0 1 24
12 Sheets, Josh........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
23 Jeralds, Darion..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 10
24 Horowitz, Jeff...... 3-5 0-0 0-0 3 1 4 2 6 1 1 1 0 13
30 Felder, Darryl...... 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 0 2 0 1 12
31 Grkovic, Dejan...... 1-4 0-2 2-2 1 3 4 3 4 0 1 0 0 14
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 20-61 2-17 9-10 18 31 49 24 51 10 18 2 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-32 28.1% 2nd Half: 11-29 37.9% Game: 32.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-9 11.1% 2nd Half: 1-8 12.5% Game: 11.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-3 100 % 2nd Half: 6-7 85.7% Game: 90.0% 0,2
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 2-5,1-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
11 Martinez, Adrian.... * 5-13 1-6 1-2 0 2 2 3 12 1 3 0 3 33
14 Davis, Bennet....... * 5-12 0-0 2-8 3 5 8 1 12 1 0 7 0 38
22 Kelly, Bobby........ * 3-7 1-4 4-5 0 3 3 1 11 5 2 0 3 38
23 Janning, Matt....... * 2-9 1-4 3-4 1 4 5 0 8 1 1 1 2 31
32 Adako, Manny........ * 2-7 0-0 3-5 1 3 4 3 7 1 0 0 0 26
24 Spates, Eugene...... 2-7 2-4 0-0 1 2 3 3 6 0 0 0 0 18
50 Washington, Mark.... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 2 0 0 1 16
TEAM................ 1 3 4 1
Totals.............. 20-56 5-18 13-24 8 23 31 11 58 11 7 8 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-32 37.5% 2nd Half: 8-24 33.3% Game: 35.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-14 35.7% 2nd Half: 0-4 0.0% Game: 27.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-1 0.0% 2nd Half: 13-23 56.5% Game: 54.2% 6,1
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Officials: Roger Ayers, Tim Nestor, Tim Kelly
Technical fouls: UNC Wilmington-None. Northeastern-None.
Attendance: 1050
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
UNC Wilmington................ 22 29 - 51
Northeastern.................. 29 29 - 58
Points in the paint-UNCW 26,NU 24. Points off turnovers-UNCW 11,NU 24.
2nd chance points-UNCW 11,NU 10. Fast break points-UNCW 4,NU 6.
Bench points-UNCW 12,NU 8. Score tied-10 times. Lead changed-12 times.
Last FG-UNCW 2nd-00:04, NU 2nd-02:23.
