The Northeastern University men's basketball team fell, 71-65, to Georgia State at the GSU Sports Arena Wednesday in Atlanta, GA.
The Huskies trailed, 67-57, with 24 seconds remaining and scored eight unanswered points in 12 seconds to come within two points before GSU hit a pair of free throws with seven seconds on the clock to end the Husky comeback. The Huskies lead by seven with 15:58 left in the game and by three with 7:17 remaining but the Panthers outscored NU, 21-8, in the next seven minutes to take a 10-point lead with 29 seconds left.
Four Huskies scored in double figures led by Eugene Spates who scored 16. Adrian Martinez added 11 while Bobby Kelly and Matt Janning got 10. Martinez also dished five assists and got two steals. After spending the majority of the first half on the bench with foul trouble, Bennet Davis asserted himself inside in the second half, blocking four shots, scoring seven points and pulling down five rebounds. Manny Adako played well on the block with seven points and nine boards on the game.
The Huskies got the majority of their scoring from the perimeter, as NU was 12-of-25 from behind the arc. GSU's offense came from inside as the Panthers scored 38 points in the paint. GSU also capitalized on its chances from the free throw line, shooting 16-for-19 (84.2 percent) at the stripe while NU was 9-of-14 (64.3 percent).
In the first half, Kelly opened the scoring with a 3-pointer before Georgia State went on an 8-3 run to take a five-point lead with 13 minutes left in the half. Spates ended the Panther run, knocking down a 3-ball at the 12:53 mark. The Huskies took their first lead of the game on a Matt Smith long ball to put NU up, 20-18. NU extended its lead to seven points, its largest of the half, on a Martinez runner with 1:51 in the half. The panthers ended the half on a 6-2 run to close the gap and make the score 29-28 in the Huskies' favor heading into the break.
After picking up two fouls, Davis played only four minutes in the first, opening up the inside for Panther forward Lance Perique who got 10 first-half points. Martinez finished the half with eight points.
The Panthers regained the lead on the first possession of the second half with a jumper from Brandon Cartwright but the Huskies came out working hard in the second and after a Janning 3-pointer, NU got two offensive rebounds and five straight points from Kelly to go up, 37-30, and force GSU head coach Michael Perry to call a timeout at the 15:50 mark. The Panthers responded with a 7-0 of their own capped by a fast break slam by Lenoard Mendez that tied the score at 37. Adako stopped the Panthers' momentum with a hook shot in the lane to put NU back on top by two with 14:40 remaining. The Panthers began to take back momentum as Ryan McBride hit a deep 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to give GSU a 57-49 lead with 3:45 left. NU head coach
Bill Coen used a timeout and Spates knocked down a 3-pointer on the Huskies' next possession to put NU down by five. Mendez followed that up with another basket and NU was unable to get back within one possession until there was eight seconds on the clock.
Mendez scored 21 points and Perique had 19 to lead the Panthers.
The Huskies play next at home on Sat., Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. when NU hosts Maine at Matthews Arena as part of the ESPNU Bracket Busters.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs Georgia State
02/14/07 7:00 p.m. at Atlanta, Ga. (Ga. State Sports Arena)
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VISITORS: Northeastern 9-18, 7-9 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 3-8 1-3 0-1 2 3 5 4 7 3 4 4 0 21
23 Janning, Matt....... f 3-9 2-5 2-3 1 2 3 1 10 2 2 0 0 36
32 Adako, Manny........ f 2-6 0-0 3-4 3 6 9 4 7 0 2 2 1 36
11 Martinez, Adrian.... g 4-6 2-3 1-2 1 2 3 1 11 5 2 0 1 29
22 Kelly, Bobby........ g 4-10 2-6 0-0 0 3 3 1 10 2 5 0 2 34
20 Smith, Matt......... 1-1 1-1 1-2 0 1 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 5
24 Spates, Eugene...... 5-10 4-7 2-2 1 4 5 4 16 2 0 0 2 24
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 2 1 1 0 15
TEAM................ 3 3 1
Totals.............. 22-53 12-25 9-14 8 24 32 17 65 16 17 7 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-25 44.0% 2nd Half: 11-28 39.3% Game: 41.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-12 50.0% 2nd Half: 6-13 46.2% Game: 48.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 8-12 66.7% Game: 64.3% 1
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HOME TEAM: Georgia State 9-17, 5-11
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
02 Perique, Lance...... f 8-11 0-1 3-6 1 4 5 2 19 0 5 0 0 33
25 Cartwright, Brandon. f 2-4 0-0 2-2 0 2 2 2 6 0 1 0 0 17
50 Dickerson, Deven.... c 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 3 1 0 10
21 Mendez, Leonard..... g 8-15 0-2 5-5 1 5 6 2 21 3 1 1 3 36
22 Larris, Ron......... g 2-4 1-3 4-4 0 6 6 1 9 3 2 0 3 40
01 Chase, Rashad....... 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 1 7
04 Mitchell, Norman.... 1-1 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 3
20 McBride, Ryan....... 2-5 2-4 0-0 0 2 2 2 6 0 1 0 1 24
32 Billingslea, Justin. 2-7 0-0 0-0 1 5 6 2 4 2 2 0 1 30
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 26-53 3-10 16-19 5 27 32 13 71 8 15 3 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-27 44.4% 2nd Half: 14-26 53.8% Game: 49.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-2 0.0% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 30.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 12-12 100 % Game: 84.2% 1
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Officials: Raymond Styons, Donnie Eppley, Alan Spainhour
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. Georgia State-None.
Attendance: 362
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 29 36 - 65
Georgia State................. 28 43 - 71
Points in the paint-NU 14,GSU 38. Points off turnovers-NU 16,GSU 24.
2nd chance points-NU 9,GSU 5. Fast break points-NU 3,GSU 14.
Bench points-NU 20,GSU 16. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-9 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-00:08, GSU 2nd-00:02.
