The Illinois Fighting Illini went on a 10-0 run to open the second half and never looked back, defeating the Northeastern University men's basketball team, 63-55, Sunday afternoon at The Assembly Hall in Champaign, Ill.
With a 22-19 lead, the Illini (1-0) came out of the halftime break hot with three layups and a three-pointer to take a 32-19 lead with 17:55 remaining. Illinois' lead reached 23 points at 10:05 when Shaun Pruitt, who scored 12 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in the game, hit two free throws to make it 52-29, UI.
Northeastern (0-1) went on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 52-36, but the Illini continued to control the tempo. The Huskies went on a late run and cut Illinois' lead to 59-50 with a minute remaining, but Northeastern ran out of time.
Sophomore Nkem Ojougboh led the Huskies with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Freshman Chaisson Allen, in his first collegiate game, also putting up a double-double, scoring 11 points and pulling down 10 boards.
The Huskies came out of the gate strong as Ojougboh scored his first points as a Husky on an alley oop pass from sophomore Matt Janning for a 2-0 Northeastern lead at 18:53.
The two teams went on to trade the lead five times before the Illini went up 15-12 on a Rodney Alexander dunk at 10:30. Illinois' 6-0 run gave it a 17-12 lead when the Huskies began to come back. Allen hit a basket to cut the lead to 17-14. Calvin Brock then hit a jump shot from midrange to make it 19-14, UI. Ojougboh followed with a dunk off his own miss, Allen hit a free throw and Ojoughboh dunked in another shot off his own miss to tie the game at 19-19 with 2:54 remaining.
The Illini took the lead into the half, 22-19, when Steve Holdren knocked down a three with 1:27 remaining.
Both teams' defenses played very well in the first half as NU and UI both struggled with shooting and turnovers. Northeastern shot 34 percent from the field and committed 10 turnovers while Illinois shot 29 percent from the field and also committed 10 turnovers.
The Huskies will take on Maryland this Thursday, Nov. 15, at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md. at 8 p.m. The game will be televised on NESN and Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs Illinois
11/11/07 1:00 pm at Assembly Hall, Champaign, IL
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VISITORS: Northeastern 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
20 Smith, Matt......... f 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 11
32 Adako, Manny........ f 3-6 0-0 2-2 1 2 3 1 8 0 2 1 1 24
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 4-10 0-0 2-2 8 5 13 3 10 1 2 0 0 30
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 4-12 0-3 3-6 6 4 10 3 11 1 2 0 2 34
23 Janning, Matt....... g 2-11 1-6 0-0 0 3 3 4 5 2 4 0 0 29
02 Alvarez, Chris...... 2-5 0-2 2-6 1 3 4 1 6 1 1 0 2 25
10 Gunterberg, Johan... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4
24 Spates, Eugene...... 2-12 2-8 2-2 1 0 1 2 8 0 1 1 0 17
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 0-2 0-1 5-6 1 2 3 3 5 0 0 0 0 13
31 Aragbaye, Allen..... 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 8
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
TEAM................ 4 1 5 1
Totals.............. 18-62 3-20 16-24 22 20 42 19 55 5 14 2 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-23 34.8% 2nd Half: 10-39 25.6% Game: 29.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-4 0.0% 2nd Half: 3-16 18.8% Game: 15.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-6 50.0% 2nd Half: 13-18 72.2% Game: 66.7% 1,3
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HOME TEAM: Illinois 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 Alexander, Rodney... f 4-5 0-1 1-1 1 4 5 5 9 0 2 0 2 20
42 Randle, Brian....... f 7-11 0-1 0-1 1 3 4 4 14 0 1 2 0 22
55 Pruitt, Shaun....... c 5-14 0-0 2-4 10 7 17 2 12 4 3 1 0 30
01 Meacham, Trent...... g 2-8 2-6 3-5 1 3 4 2 9 1 1 0 2 29
03 Frazier, Chester.... g 1-5 0-2 0-0 1 2 3 2 2 5 2 0 1 33
13 Jordan, Jeff........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3
22 Holdren, Steve...... 2-3 1-2 2-4 0 2 2 2 7 1 0 0 1 16
24 Davis, Mike......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
25 Brock, Calvin....... 1-4 0-0 0-1 1 2 3 1 2 0 0 1 2 20
30 Cole, Bill.......... 3-6 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 3 6 0 2 0 0 9
32 McCamey, Demetri.... 1-4 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 0 2 1 0 8
54 Tisdale, Mike....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 8
TEAM................ 1 3 4
Totals.............. 26-61 3-15 8-16 18 29 47 22 63 11 15 5 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-34 29.4% 2nd Half: 16-27 59.3% Game: 42.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-11 18.2% 2nd Half: 1-4 25.0% Game: 20.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-2 0.0% 2nd Half: 8-14 57.1% Game: 50.0% 2
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Officials: Jim Burr, Steve Welmer, Mike Sanzere
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. Illinois-None.
Attendance: 16618
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 19 36 - 55
Illinois...................... 22 41 - 63
ID-583422
Points in the paint-NU 16,ILL 44. Points off turnovers-NU 13,ILL 15.
2nd chance points-NU 14,ILL 10. Fast break points-NU 6,ILL 15.
Bench points-NU 21,ILL 17. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-3 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-00:05, ILL 2nd-03:35.
