Sophomore captain Matt Janning had another big night for the Northeastern men's basketball team, scoring 29 points, including five three-pointers, but the Connecticut Huskies were too strong and came away with a 69-60 win Thursday night at Gampel Pavillion in Storrs, Conn.
For Janning, it was his third 25-plus scoring game of the season, all of them coming against big opponents on television. He scored 26 in Northeastern's 74-72 overtime loss at Maryland and scored a career-high 34 in NU's 92-72 loss at Rhode Island.
Janning shot 9-for-22 from the floor and 5-for-10 from behind the arc to lead the Huskies. Sophomore Nkem Ojougboh scored 14 points while freshman Chaisson Allen nearly pulled off a triple-double, scoring nine points, pulling down eight rebounds and dishing out a career-high nine assists.
Connecticut shot 50 percent (23-for-46) in the game and played strong defense, holding Northeastern to 21 field goals on 63 shots while also making nine blocks and forcing 13 turnovers.
Northeastern opened up the game strong as Janning scored NU's first six points with two three-point field goals in the first 3:23. Northeastern took advantage of six UConn turnovers in the first eight and a half minutes to take a 15-11 lead. Allen helped get that lead with two fast break layups off Northeastern steals.
However, Connecticut came back quickly to tie the game at 10:05, 15-15, and then take its first lead of the game at 9:38 when Gavin Edwards hit a mid-range jumper. Connecticut built up a 32-25 lead, but Northeastern hung in thanks to Janning and Ojougboh's shooting. Ojougboh was 4-for-6 from the field in the first half for 11 points while Janning was 3-for-4 from three-point range and scored 11 points. He hit a clutch three with 1:27 remaining to cut Northeastern's deficit to 32-28. The two combined to score NU's final 13 points of the half. Connecticut scored once more before the buzzer to take a 34-28 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, Connecticut opened up a nine-point lead at 9:26, but the Huskies slowly made a comeback, thanks in large part to UConn head coach Jim Calhoun, who was hit with two technical fouls in the second half, one at 15:04 and the second at 6:25, and was ejected. Janning hit all four technical foul free throws. On the second technical, Janning also hit two free throws stemming from a personal foul. As a result, the UConn lead was four, 53-49, with 6:25 remaining in the contest.
With Northeastern on the comeback trail, Connecticut rebounded with a 12-5 run between 6:12 and 00:59. Craig Austrie put the dagger in NU with a three-pointer at 3:06 that gave UConn its biggest lead of the game, 11 points, at 63-52. Connecticut went on to pick up the victory.
UConn was led by Jerome Dyson, who scored 16 points and pulled down 10 boards. The Huskies will break for finals and return to action on Wednesday, Dec. 19 when they host Harvard at Matthews Arena at 7 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
NORTHEASTERN vs CONNECTICUT
12/6/07 7:30 p.m. at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion Storrs, Conn.
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VISITORS: NORTHEASTERN (3-5)
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 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 3 0 1 1 0 1 19
32 Adako, Manny........ f 0-4 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 24
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 5-12 1-1 3-4 2 2 4 4 14 0 3 0 3 35
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 4-9 1-3 0-0 4 4 8 4 9 9 3 1 2 39
23 Janning, Matt....... g 9-22 5-10 6-6 0 2 2 3 29 2 3 0 3 40
02 Alvarez, Chris...... 2-4 0-1 0-1 2 2 4 3 4 2 0 0 2 19
10 Gunterberg, Johan... 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
24 Spates, Eugene...... 1-6 0-3 2-2 1 1 2 0 4 0 1 0 1 18
31 Aragbaye, Allen..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
TEAM................ 6 1 7 1
Totals.............. 21-63 7-22 11-13 15 16 31 19 60 15 13 1 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-30 36.7% 2nd Half: 10-33 30.3% Game: 33.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 4-13 30.8% Game: 31.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 8-9 88.9% Game: 84.6% 2
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HOME TEAM: CONNECTICUT (6-2)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
04 ADRIEN, Jeff........ f 1-5 0-0 7-9 1 3 4 0 9 4 0 2 0 30
34 THABEET, Hasheem.... c 5-5 0-0 3-4 2 5 7 3 13 0 0 3 0 30
11 DYSON, Jerome....... g 4-10 2-5 6-8 4 6 10 2 16 2 2 2 1 40
12 PRICE, A.J.......... g 1-4 0-2 1-1 0 0 0 2 3 7 5 0 3 23
24 AUSTRIE, Craig...... g 1-2 1-2 2-2 1 1 2 0 5 4 1 0 0 22
02 BEVERLY, Donnell.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
03 WIGGINS, Doug....... 0-4 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 12
14 KELLY, Curtis....... 4-6 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 8 0 2 0 0 8
21 ROBINSON, Stanley... 5-6 1-1 0-0 0 2 2 2 11 0 4 1 2 21
32 MANDELDOVE, Jonathan 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
33 EDWARDS, Gavin...... 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 4 1 2 0 2 9
TEAM................ 6 6 2
Totals.............. 23-46 4-12 19-24 9 27 36 13 69 18 16 9 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-26 50.0% 2nd Half: 10-20 50.0% Game: 50.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-10 30.0% 2nd Half: 1-2 50.0% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 14-18 77.8% Game: 79.2% 3
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Officials: Wally Rutecki, Tim Clougherty, Mike Roberts
Technical fouls: NORTHEASTERN-None. CONNECTICUT-TEAM 2.
Attendance: 9915
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
NORTHEASTERN.................. 28 32 - 60
CONNECTICUT................... 34 35 - 69
ID-615572
Points in the paint-NU 14,UCONN 36. Points off turnovers-NU 14,UCONN 16.
2nd chance points-NU 19,UCONN 7. Fast break points-NU 8,UCONN 12.
Bench points-NU 8,UCONN 23. Score tied-2 times. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-NU 2nd-00:18, UCONN 2nd-03:06.
