Sophomore Tyrese Rice scored 25 points including seven-straight in the midst of a 13-0 run late in the second half to break open a tie game and lead Boston College to an 87-82 victory over Northeastern on Sunday afternoon at Conte Forum.
Rice, who paced five Eagle players in double figures, connected on 10-of-14 shots from the floor, while dishing out six assists and grabbing five rebounds to go with five steals as BC held off repeated Husky rallies throughout the second half.
The Eagles built a 15-point advantage in the first half by shooting a stellar 69.7 percent from the floor (36-of-61). Rice led the way in the period with 15 points, but Boston College built its advantage in the paint, outscoring the Huskies down low, 24-8. However, NU put together a strong half offensively, as well, converting 14-of-28 from the floor, led by 16 points from senior Bennet Davis.
The Huskies (3-9) continued their hot shooting streak as they stormed back into the game early in the second half behind freshman Matt Janning. Northeastern hit six of its first nine shots in the period with three 3-point buckets to chip the BC-lead back to just three points at 55-52 with 16:27 to go in the game. A pair of buckets by senior Sean Marshall gave Boston College (8-4) a seven-point cushion, which the Huskies quickly erased to even the game at 59. Janning, who finished with a career-high 21 points, was 9-of-12 from the floor on the game.
Northeastern fell behind two more times in the half, by four and five points, respectively, and each time rallied to tie the score. However, Rice and the Eagles took control down the stretch, pushing a 70-70 tie game to 83-70 over a span of 4:54. Northeastern nearly rallied again, cutting a 13-point deficit to just five, but time ran out on NU's comeback attempt.
In addition to Janning's career performance, Davis finished with 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting, while sophomore Eugene Spates connected for 20 points, each career-highs. The Huskies hit a season-high 12 three-point field goals, with four from both Davis and Spates and three by Janning. The 82 points scored by NU is the team's highest offensive production of the season, and snapped a five-game streak of scoring less than 60 points.
Joining Rice in double figures for BC, Marshall scored 19, while junior Sean Williams scored 16 with nine rebounds and freshman Shamari Spears scored 10 points to go with his game-high 12 boards. The Eagles, who blocked 18 shots on Thursday night versus Duquesne, blocked just two shots in the game. The victory snaps a two-game slide for Boston College.
Northeastern begins the bulk of its CAA conference action on Wednesday night as the Huskies play host to Old Dominion at Matthews Arena beginning at 7 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
NORTHEASTERN vs BOSTON COLLEGE
12-31-06 4 p.m. at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA
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VISITORS: NORTHEASTERN 3-9
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 11-17 4-5 1-2 1 4 5 4 27 6 2 1 2 36
24 Spates, Eugene...... f 7-16 4-12 2-2 2 2 4 4 20 0 2 1 1 32
11 Martinez, Adrian.... g 1-5 1-4 1-2 0 2 2 2 4 8 1 0 0 29
22 Kelly, Bobby........ g 1-6 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 4 2 0 3 40
23 Janning, Matt....... g 9-12 3-5 0-1 1 2 3 1 21 2 2 0 1 34
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
32 Adako, Manny........ 3-5 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 6 0 1 0 0 19
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-0 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 0 2 1 1 0 1 7
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 32-61 12-29 6-9 6 16 22 13 82 21 11 2 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-28 50.0% 2nd Half: 18-33 54.5% Game: 52.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-13 38.5% 2nd Half: 7-16 43.8% Game: 41.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-6 66.7% 2nd Half: 2-3 66.7% Game: 66.7% 1
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HOME TEAM: BOSTON COLLEGE 8-4, 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
23 MARSHALL, Sean...... f 9-20 1-2 0-0 3 0 3 2 19 4 1 0 3 37
32 OATES, John......... f 2-3 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 4 2 2 0 1 18
51 WILLIAMS, Sean...... c 6-11 0-0 4-5 2 7 9 1 16 1 2 2 0 31
00 HAYNES, Marquez..... g 4-7 1-1 2-4 1 2 3 1 11 5 1 0 0 38
04 RICE, TYRESE........ g 10-14 3-5 2-3 1 4 5 0 25 6 4 0 5 38
22 ROCHE, Tyler........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 6
34 SPEARS, Shamari..... 4-5 0-0 2-3 3 9 12 4 10 0 0 0 0 25
44 BLAIR, Tyrelle...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 7
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 36-61 5-9 10-15 11 25 36 10 87 20 12 2 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 23-33 69.7% 2nd Half: 13-28 46.4% Game: 59.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 2-2 100 % Game: 55.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 7-11 63.6% Game: 66.7% 3
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Officials: Jamie Luckie, Ray Natili, Roger Ayers
Technical fouls: NORTHEASTERN-None. BOSTON COLLEGE-None.
Attendance: 6018
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
NORTHEASTERN.................. 37 45 - 82
BOSTON COLLEGE................ 52 35 - 87
ID-472891
Points in the paint-NU 24,BC 44. Points off turnovers-NU 20,BC 13.
2nd chance points-NU 9,BC 12. Fast break points-NU 0,BC 2.
Bench points-NU 8,BC 12. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-00:01, BC 2nd-00:24.
