The Northeastern University men's basketball team fell, 74-61, to Towson at the Towson Center Wednesday night. CAA Rookie of the Week Matt Janning paced the Huskies with a game-high 18 points and six assists. Eugene Spates gave the Huskies a burst off the bench with 15 points and seven rebounds. Bobby Kelly worked hard on defense, covering Gary Neal and holding the CAA's leading scorer to 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting. NU did a good job contesting shots but the hot-shooting Tigers knocked down some tough jumpers to hit on 52.6 percent of their field goals.
The Tigers opened the game on a 9-0 run started by an alley-oop off a back screen from C.C. Williams to Tommy Breaux. Towson hit consecutive 3-pointers to cap the run, forcing NU head coach
Bill Coen to use his first timeout. NU responded and scored four-straight points out of the huddle before cutting the lead to four points on a Matt Janning 3-pointer with the score 14-10 at the 13:18 mark. The teams traded baskets for the reminder of the half, as the Huskies came as close as three points but trailed, 40-27, heading into the break.
Towson forced an NU turnover on the first possession of the second half and extended its lead to 16 points on a Neal jumper and free throw from Jonathan Peace. The Huskies then trimmed the deficit down to eight in the next two minutes with consecutive defensive stops and back-to-back 3-pointers from Spates and Kelly. Towson grew its lead back up to 15 points thanks to Williams who got four points and a steal as part of a 11-3 Tiger run. The Huskies answered right back with a 10-2 run to reduce the lead to seven and make the score 56-49 with 7:09 remaining. In a half of runs, Towson made the last big push to pull away, responding with an 8-0 run to increase its lead to 15 points with 3:59 remaining.
Williams had a big second half for Towson, scoring 10 of his 15 points in the period. He added five assists and three rebounds. Dennard Abraham finished with 16 points and seven rebounds while his front court teammates, Pease and Breaux each had 10 points.
The Huskies play next when they travel to Hofstra on Sat., Feb. 3. at 4 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs Towson
1/31/07 7:00 p.m. at Towson Center (Towson, MD)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: Northeastern 7-16 (5-7 CAA)
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 3-10 0-1 6-8 2 2 4 4 12 2 4 2 1 25
23 Janning, Matt....... f 7-16 4-10 0-1 1 4 5 2 18 6 0 0 1 38
32 Adako, Manny........ f 0-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 3 1 0 0 23
11 Martinez, Adrian.... g 2-5 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 1 6 3 1 0 0 22
22 Kelly, Bobby........ g 3-4 1-2 2-4 0 1 1 1 9 2 1 0 0 35
15 McDonald, Brian..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
20 Smith, Matt......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2
24 Spates, Eugene...... 5-8 4-5 1-2 0 7 7 2 15 1 4 0 2 29
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 3 4 3 1 1 0 3 1 21
TEAM................
Totals.............. 20-47 11-23 10-17 6 19 25 14 61 19 11 5 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-25 40.0% 2nd Half: 10-22 45.5% Game: 42.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-10 40.0% 2nd Half: 7-13 53.8% Game: 47.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 7-9 77.8% Game: 58.8% 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: Towson 12-11 (6-6 CAA)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
12 Breaux, Tommy....... f 4-4 0-0 2-2 1 3 4 5 10 1 0 2 1 30
22 Abraham, Dennard.... f 7-13 1-1 1-2 2 5 7 2 16 1 0 1 1 34
33 Pease, Jonathan..... f 3-5 2-4 2-4 1 2 3 3 10 1 0 0 1 25
01 Williams, C.C....... g 7-11 0-1 1-1 0 3 3 3 15 6 2 0 2 30
14 Neal, Gary.......... g 4-15 0-7 3-3 3 3 6 1 11 8 1 0 0 34
03 Crossin, Tim........ 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 10
04 Coleman, Rocky...... 2-4 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 5 2 1 0 2 15
21 Spruill, Rodney..... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 5
25 Tubbs, Winstonn..... 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 5 6 1 2 0 2 2 0 17
TEAM................ 2 2 1
Totals.............. 30-57 5-17 9-12 10 24 34 16 74 20 8 5 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-31 51.6% 2nd Half: 14-26 53.8% Game: 52.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-11 36.4% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 29.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 5-7 71.4% Game: 75.0% 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Earl Walton (R), Gary Prager, Ray Perone
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. Towson-None.
Attendance: 1837
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 27 34 - 61
Towson........................ 40 34 - 74
Points in the paint-NU 14,TOWSON 34. Points off turnovers-NU 9,TOWSON 13.
2nd chance points-NU 3,TOWSON 13. Fast break points-NU 8,TOWSON 15.
Bench points-NU 16,TOWSON 12. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-00:11, TOWSON 2nd-01:21.
