CAA Player of the Year Jose Juan Barea scored 20 points to go with nine assists as No. 5 Northeastern upended No. 4 Old Dominion 71-63, in a thrilling CAA Tournament Quarterfinal on Saturday afternoon at the Richmond Coliseum.
“It was one of those typical CAA wars that we've become accustomed to this season,” said head coach Ron Everhart. “It was a great college basketball game and a great college basketball environment.”
Trailing by six points with 4:33 to play in the contest, Barea helped lead the Huskies (19-10) on a 17-3 run to close the game, highlighted by crucial free throw shooting and a pair of timely 3-point field goals. The Huskies connected on 5-of-6 free throws in the final 3:07 of the game, including 3-of-4 from Barea. Although he missed his fourth free throw with 0:29 remaining, Barea out hustled everyone to the corner and secured the rebound off his miss to keep Northeastern's possession alive.
The run began with a jumper by Bennet Davis off the feed from Adrian Martinez. On the next possession, Valdas Vasylius took the ball strong to the hole for the Monarchs (21-9) but could not convert his layup attempt. Davis grabbed the rebound in traffic and managed to maintain control of the ball until he found Barea awaiting the ball at mid-court. Quickly, Barea found an open Bobby Kelly who nailed a 3-pointer in the corner to cut the Huskies' deficit to just one at 60-59. Alex Loughton answered with a layup at the other end, but fouled Barea on his next shot attempt, as he hit both free throws to keep the ODU lead at one with 3:07 left.
Each team failed to connect on their next possessions, and with the ball and a one-point lead Loughton took the ball to the hole for ODU, but could not finish. Kelly, in traffic, grabbed the rebound and relayed it to Barea who, this time, found Aaron Davis open to connect on the three and take a 64-62 lead with 2:10 to play.
Loughton again attempted to drive the ball down low in the post, but Barea reached in and stole the ball. He found Aaron Davis on the fast break, who attempted to lay the ball in under pressure, however the ball sailed off the backboard and over the rim where Kelly grabbed the rebound in midair and slammed home the ball and victory, as Northeastern took a 66-62 lead with 0:52 to play. The Monarchs missed their final three shot attempts, while the Huskies made four of their final five free throws to seal the win.
The two teams battled to a tie in a fiercely contested first half at 29-29. The Monarchs built a quick second half lead with a pair of 3-pointers, but in each of the three occasions that ODU took a six-point lead, Northeastern answered with a 3-pointer of their own to keep the game in reach.
While Barea helped ignite the Husky run, it was the second half play of Bennet Davis and Kelly that helped Northeastern move on to the next round. Bennet Davis finished the day with 10 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting, all in the second half, while Kelly hit for 10 of his 12 points in the second half. After shooting 12-of-32 in the first half as a team, the Huskies once again got hot in the second half by hitting 14-of-25 (56 percent) field goals. Davis also grabbed nine rebounds, while Janon Cole came off the bench with 21 quality minutes to help provide relief to Shawn James, who picked up his fourth foul with 13:20 to play. Cole scored 10 points with eight rebounds and four assists, while James finished the night with nine points and seven rebounds.
Loughton led the way for the Monarchs with 14 points and nine rebounds. Brian Henderson scored 13 on 5-of-7 shooting, while Arnaud Dahi has 11 point and eight rebounds. Old Dominion shot just 12-of-28 (46.4 percent) in the second half and couldn't keep pace with the red hot Huskies.
Northeastern advances to face top-seeded UNC Wilmington in a CAA Semifinal beginning at 3:30 p.m. at the Richmond Coliseum.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs Old Dominion
3/4/06 2:45 pm at Richmond, Va, (Richmond Coliseum)
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VISITORS: Northeastern (19-10)
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 5-5 0-0 0-0 1 8 9 4 10 2 1 0 0 31
21 James, Shawn........ f 4-8 1-2 0-0 1 6 7 4 9 0 1 3 0 29
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... g 7-23 2-8 4-7 1 2 3 3 20 9 5 0 2 37
12 Davis, Aaron........ g 2-5 1-3 2-2 0 2 2 2 7 0 0 1 0 31
22 Kelly, Bobby........ g 4-9 2-5 2-2 2 3 5 1 12 0 2 0 0 37
04 Cyprian, Chris...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
11 Martinez, Adrian.... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 3 3 1 0 0 13
33 Cole, Janon......... 3-5 0-0 4-5 3 5 8 1 10 4 2 0 1 21
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 26-57 7-20 12-16 8 27 35 16 71 18 12 4 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-32 37.5% 2nd Half: 14-25 56.0% Game: 45.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-10 10.0% 2nd Half: 6-10 60.0% Game: 35.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 8-9 88.9% Game: 75.0% 3,2
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HOME TEAM: Old Dominion (21-9)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
31 Dahi, Arnaud........ f 4-14 1-3 2-4 6 2 8 2 11 0 1 0 2 27
40 Loughton, Alex...... f 5-13 0-2 4-8 2 7 9 3 14 1 3 1 2 33
01 Hunter, Isaiah...... g 3-12 1-5 0-0 0 4 4 1 7 8 3 0 1 33
10 Williamson,Drew..... g 2-6 1-3 1-4 1 3 4 4 6 4 1 0 1 31
20 Henderson, Brian.... g 5-7 3-5 0-0 0 0 0 2 13 1 0 0 1 30
04 Johnson, Brandon.... 2-3 1-2 0-0 1 2 3 2 5 3 0 0 1 16
11 Lidonde, Abdi....... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 7
34 Adams, Jonathan..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
42 Vasylius,Valdas..... 2-5 0-0 1-4 2 5 7 2 5 0 2 0 0 20
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 24-62 7-20 8-20 13 24 37 17 63 17 10 1 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-34 32.4% 2nd Half: 13-28 46.4% Game: 38.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-10 30.0% 2nd Half: 4-10 40.0% Game: 35.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-10 40.0% 2nd Half: 4-10 40.0% Game: 40.0% 8
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Officials: John Gaffney, Brian Dorsey, Tim Kelly
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. Old Dominion-None.
Attendance: 4968
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 29 42 - 71
Old Dominion.................. 29 34 - 63
CAA Men's Basketball Championship, Quarterfinals - Game 6
#5 Northeastern advances to face #1 UNCW on Sunday at 3:30 PM.
Points in the paint-NU 34,ODU 28. Points off turnovers-NU 9,ODU 11.
2nd chance points-NU 13,ODU 5. Fast break points-NU 15,ODU 4.
Bench points-NU 13,ODU 12. Score tied-8 times. Lead changed-8 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-00:52, ODU 2nd-03:14.
