The Northeastern University men's basketball team kept up with Syracuse for the entire first half, but a 22-7 run to open the second half sparked the Orange to a 95-74 win over the Huskies Sunday afternoon at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.
The Orange came away with the win despite 26 points from sophomore captain Matt Janning, who turned in his fourth 20-point performance of the season, and freshman Chaisson Allen who scored 19 points in what was his best shooting performance of the season as he connected on eight of 13 shots.
The two teams played an incredibly tight first half. Northeastern shot 53.6 percent (15-for-28) in the first half and was led by Janning, who scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting. He hit a three at 12:15, fought traffic to grab a rebound and lay in a bucket at 8:38 and then took a feed from Eugene Spates on a cut to the basket for a layup at 7:41. At 5:06, he took a dish from sophomore Baptiste Bataille to nail a long three, giving the Huskies a momentary 30-29 lead.
The Orange answered back immediately as Arinze Onuaku hit a layup for a 31-30 lead. Allen came back down the court and knocked down a three on an assist from Bataille to make it 33-31 Huskies with 4:29 remaining. Paul Harris tied it a lay-in bucket and that sparked a 6-0 Orange run that gave them a 37-33 lead with 2:54 to play in the half.
Northeastern came right back as Janning stole the ball at midcourt and hit a fast break layup. After Rick Jackson hit a layup for Syracuse, Janning answered the call by sinking another three, his third of the first half, and cutting the Orange's lead to 41-40 with 1:26 left.
Allen tied the game at 42-42 with 38 seconds left on two free throws, but Flynn hit a jumper with three seconds left to give the Orange a 44-42 lead at the break.
In the second half, Allen took the first possession and hit a reverse layup to tie the game at 44-44, but the Orange took over from there, scoring 22 of the next 27 points to take a 66-49 lead that they would not surrender. The Huskies shot only 27 percent in the second half, struggling to keep up with the athletic Orange.
The Huskies were unable to overcome a major foul discrepancy as they were called for 22 fouls that led to 25 Orange points. NU only scored 16 points on 16 Syracuse fouls.
Harris led the Orange with 19 points and 15 rebounds, his eighth double-double of the season. He was one of six Syracuse players to score in double digits.
Though the score does not indicate it, the game was close for the most part. The teams were tied nine different times and there were 14 lead changes.
The Huskies will ring in the new year with a CAA game at Towson this Wednesday Jan. 2 at the Towson Center at 7 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs Syracuse
12/30/07 1:06 p.m. at Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
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VISITORS: Northeastern (4-7)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
24 Spates, Eugene...... f 2-6 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 4 6 3 0 0 0 21
32 Adako, Manny........ f 1-5 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 4 2 1 0 1 0 19
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 4-11 1-2 3-4 4 2 6 4 12 0 2 1 0 34
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 8-13 1-3 2-2 3 2 5 3 19 3 4 0 1 35
23 Janning, Matt....... g 8-17 4-9 6-6 1 2 3 0 26 2 3 0 3 36
02 Alvarez, Chris...... 1-6 0-0 2-2 0 2 2 4 4 1 0 1 2 23
10 Gunterberg, Johan... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
15 McDonald, Brian..... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 1
20 Smith, Matt......... 0-1 0-0 2-2 1 1 2 1 2 0 1 0 0 4
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 7
31 Aragbaye, Allen..... 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 3
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 2 1 0 3 0 1 16
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 25-65 8-22 16-18 15 17 32 22 74 14 13 3 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-28 53.6% 2nd Half: 10-37 27.0% Game: 38.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-10 50.0% 2nd Half: 3-12 25.0% Game: 36.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-8 87.5% 2nd Half: 9-10 90.0% Game: 88.9% 1
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HOME TEAM: Syracuse (10-3)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 GREENE, Donte....... f 5-9 4-6 3-4 3 2 5 4 17 0 2 3 1 28
11 HARRIS, Paul........ f 5-10 0-0 9-13 5 10 15 3 19 7 1 0 4 36
21 ONUAKU, Arinze...... c 4-8 0-0 4-8 1 3 4 1 12 1 3 4 2 25
10 FLYNN, Jonny........ g 6-10 0-2 1-1 0 3 3 2 13 2 1 0 1 35
33 JARDINE, Scoop...... g 7-11 0-0 4-5 0 2 2 4 18 4 2 0 3 29
00 JACKSON, Rick....... 2-4 0-0 0-2 1 2 3 0 4 1 0 1 0 16
02 THOMAS, Justin...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 4
12 ONGENAET, Kristof... 3-3 0-0 4-5 2 3 5 2 10 2 1 1 0 19
32 PRESUTTI, Jake...... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
41 WILLIAMS, Mike...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
45 WILLIAMS, Sean...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 33-58 4-9 25-38 13 26 39 16 95 18 10 9 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-27 55.6% 2nd Half: 18-31 58.1% Game: 56.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 3-7 42.9% Game: 44.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 13-17 76.5% 2nd Half: 12-21 57.1% Game: 65.8% 8
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Officials: Tim Clougherty, Les Jones, Todd Williams
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. Syracuse-None.
Attendance: 20663
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 42 32 - 74
Syracuse...................... 44 51 - 95
Points in the paint-NU 28,SYR 54. Points off turnovers-NU 10,SYR 14.
2nd chance points-NU 12,SYR 18. Fast break points-NU 6,SYR 15.
Bench points-NU 9,SYR 16. Score tied-9 times. Lead changed-14 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-00:48, SYR 2nd-01:14.
