Sophomore Jeff Adrien scored 14 of his career-high 18 points in the second half, as one of five players in double figures to lead No. 19 Connecticut past Northeastern, 81-53, in men's basketball action played Wednesday night at Gampel Pavilion. Adrien also grabbed 12 rebounds to post a double-double for the host-Huskies.
UConn turned an 11-point advantage at halftime into as many 32 points in the second half by pounding the ball down low and getting to the free throw line. Connecticut, who has won 27 in a row at home, converted 18-of-25 from the stripe and scored 42 points in the paint, while NU made it to the line just six times, sinking three and went 8-of-25 from 3-point range. The host-Huskies also held a 47-31 advantage on the glass for the game.
Northeastern (2-6) held a 10-9 lead at the 14:14 mark in the first half after a lay-in by senior Bennet Davis. However, Connecticut strung together a 12-0 lead over the next 5:18 to take a 21-10 advantage before Davis helped bring NU back into the game with a personal 8-0 run to close within three at 21-18 in favor of UConn. But Connecticut closed the half on a 14-6 run to head into the locker room with a 35-24 lead. The game started sloppy for both teams, with the UConn Huskies committing eight turnovers in the first eight minutes of the game, but Connecticut played the last 12 minutes with just two turnovers and held NU to 29.4 percent shooting overall in the first 20 minutes.
Joining Adrien in double digits, were sophomores A.J. Price (13) and Marcus Johnson (10) along with freshmen Jerome Dyson (11) and Doug Wiggins (14). Johnson added eight rebounds and a pair of blocks while Price dished a game-high seven assists in the victory.
Davis put together a fine evening for NU, finishing with 14 points, nine rebounds and four blocks before fouling late in the game, while senior Adrian Martinez figured in with 12 points and freshman Matt Janning added 13 and four boards in the loss. Senior Bobby Kelly scored eight points and added two assists and three steals. Freshman Manny Adako, who fouled out with just over eight minutes remaining in the game, scored a pair with three rebounds in the effort against a much larger Connecticut squad.
Northeastern will take the week off for finals and return to action on Dec. 18, when it hosts New Hampshire at Solomon Court beginning at 7 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
NORTHEASTERN vs CONNECTICUT
12/6/06 7:30 p.m. at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion Storrs, Conn.
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VISITORS: NORTHEASTERN (2-6)
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 6-13 2-3 0-0 4 5 9 5 14 4 2 4 0 36
23 Janning, Matt....... f 5-9 2-5 1-2 2 2 4 2 13 1 3 0 0 35
32 Adako, Manny........ f 1-6 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 5 2 0 2 0 1 19
11 Martinez, Adrian.... g 5-13 1-5 1-2 1 1 2 1 12 2 1 0 0 30
22 Kelly, Bobby........ g 3-12 2-8 0-0 1 3 4 0 8 2 3 0 3 37
01 Popoola, Dipo....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
15 McDonald, Brian..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
20 Smith, Matt......... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3
24 Spates, Eugene...... 0-4 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 4 0 0 2 0 0 17
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 1-3 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 0 5
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 2 1 0 1 3 1 16
TEAM................ 1 3 4 1
Totals.............. 21-62 8-25 3-6 11 20 31 19 53 11 16 7 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-34 29.4% 2nd Half: 11-28 39.3% Game: 33.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-12 25.0% 2nd Half: 5-13 38.5% Game: 32.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 2-4 50.0% Game: 50.0% 3
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HOME TEAM: CONNECTICUT (8-0)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 JOHNSON, Marcus..... f 3-7 0-0 4-4 4 4 8 1 10 1 3 2 1 23
04 ADRIEN, Jeff........ f 8-15 0-0 2-3 4 8 12 0 18 1 1 1 1 29
34 THABEET, Hasheem.... c 0-2 0-0 3-4 0 6 6 1 3 0 3 3 0 26
11 DYSON, Jerome....... g 5-12 1-2 0-0 1 3 4 1 11 4 2 0 2 32
12 PRICE, A.J.......... g 3-9 1-2 6-9 2 2 4 0 13 7 0 0 2 27
02 EAVES, Ben.......... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 3
03 WIGGINS, Doug....... 5-9 2-4 2-2 2 0 2 2 14 2 0 0 0 17
10 SPENCER, Ben........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
14 KELLY, Curtis....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 6
21 ROBINSON, Stanley... 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 3 3 2 2 1 1 0 0 13
24 AUSTRIE, Craig...... 3-4 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 1 0 10
25 GARRISON, Rob....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
32 MANDELDOVE, Jonathan 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
33 EDWARDS, Gavin...... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 0 7
35 GAGNE, Martin....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
TEAM................ 3 2 5 1 1
Totals.............. 29-63 5-10 18-25 17 30 47 10 81 16 12 8 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-32 43.8% 2nd Half: 15-31 48.4% Game: 46.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-3 33.3% 2nd Half: 4-7 57.1% Game: 50.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-10 60.0% 2nd Half: 12-15 80.0% Game: 72.0% 4
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Officials: Tom Lopes, Jamie Luckie, Brian O'Connell
Technical fouls: NORTHEASTERN-None. CONNECTICUT-KELLY, Curtis; TEAM.
Attendance: 10167
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
NORTHEASTERN.................. 24 29 - 53
CONNECTICUT................... 35 46 - 81
ID-502208
Points in the paint-NU 16,UCONN 42. Points off turnovers-NU 4,UCONN 22.
2nd chance points-NU 15,UCONN 13. Fast break points-NU 0,UCONN 18.
Bench points-NU 4,UCONN 26. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-2 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-00:56, UCONN 2nd-01:21.
