The Northeastern men's basketball team led for most of its contest against William & Mary, but the Tribe overcame a 12-point halftime deficit and knocked off the Huskies 55-53 Wednesday night at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Va.
Down 53-52, the Tribe's Chris Darnell hit a jumper, drew a foul and completed the three-point play with a free throw to give his team its only lead of the game, 55-53 with 1:26 to play. The Huskies had two chances to tie, but couldn't get the ball in the hoop.
Sophomore Nkem Ojougboh led the Huskies with 14 points, one of three Huskies to reach double digits. Sophomores Matt Janning and Manny Adako had 11 and 10 points, respectively. Freshman Chaisson Allen chipped in eight points, eight rebounds and three assists.
The Huskies came out flying in the first half, shooting 58 percent from the field, highlighted by Janning and Ojougboh, who each displayed the long-range shot. Janning opened up the contest with a 22-foot three-pointer. He nailed another long trey from the corner a few minutes later. Combining those shots with a couple of jumpers, he had 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first frame. Ojougboh knocked down two 18-foot jumpers and also tipped in an Adako miss.
The Huskies led for the entire first half. They built up a 20-9 lead at 9:45, but the Tribe made strides in cutting the deficit. Nathan Mann and John Sexton hit three-pointers on back-to-back Tribe possessions to cut NU's lead to five, 24-19. Allen had a layup to increase the lead to 26-19 before Chris Stratton hit a free throw and a layup to make it 26-22 at 4:46.
That was as close as the Tribe could get in the first half as the Huskies bounced right back with an 8-0 run to close out the first half. Sophomore Baptiste Bataille nailed a three in the corner on an assist from Ojougboh, who then hit a jumper on a dish from junior Chris Alvarez the next time down the court. Janning hit one of two free throws at 2:25 to make it 32-22. Neither team put in a bucket until the Huskies ended the half with a monster alley oop from Allen to Ojougboh with two seconds left, sending the Huskies into the locker room with a 34-22 advantage.
In the second half, the Tribe came out shooting, connecting on four of their first five shots, closing the deficit to 38-30 with 16:19 to play.
After Laimis Kisielius missed a three at 15:27, the Tribe rang off three straight threes, one each by Mann, Darnell and David Schneider, cutting NU's lead to one, 40-39, with 13:32 remaining.
The Huskies (6-10, 2-4 CAA) recovered enough to reclaim a five-point lead, 44-39, as Adako knocked in a layup and junior Eugene Spates drove in to the lane and dunked the ball over two Tribe players.
However, the Tribe (8-8, 4-2 CAA) stayed in the game and tied it at 7:07 when Darnell put back in his own missed layup for a 47-47 score.
The Huskies answered once more as Spates came up big with a long three-pointer at 6:51. Free throws by Ojougboh and Adako extended Northeastern's lead to six, 53-47, with 4:43 remaining, but that was the last time the Huskies scored in the game. NU missed its last two shots and turned the ball over three times in the final four minutes.
Schneider hit a three to make it 53-52 Huskies and Darnell followed that up with his jumper that gave the Tribe the win.
The Tribe shot 50 percent in the second half for the victory. The Huskies attempted only 15 shots in the second half and made only six of them. They committed 18 turnovers in the game, nine in the second half. The Tribe scored 18 points off those NU turnovers.
The Huskies look to rebound this Saturday when they take on Delaware at Matthews Arena at 5 p.m. The game will be televised by CN8.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs William and Mary
1/16/08 7 PM at Williamsburg, Va. (Kaplan Arena)
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VISITORS: Northeastern 6-10, 2-4, CAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
02 Alvarez, Chris...... * 1-2 0-0 0-1 0 3 3 3 2 1 2 1 0 19
03 Allen, Chaisson..... * 3-7 0-1 2-2 1 7 8 1 8 3 3 0 0 36
23 Janning, Matt....... * 4-8 2-4 1-2 0 1 1 2 11 5 4 0 1 37
32 Adako, Manny........ * 4-8 0-0 2-2 0 5 5 0 10 1 3 1 0 39
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... * 6-10 0-0 2-4 1 5 6 3 14 2 3 2 1 39
10 Gunterberg, Johan... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
24 Spates, Eugene...... 2-6 1-3 0-0 1 3 4 1 5 1 2 1 0 22
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 7
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 21-43 4-9 7-11 7 25 32 10 53 13 18 5 2 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-28 53.6% 2nd Half: 6-15 40.0% Game: 48.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-6 50.0% 2nd Half: 1-3 33.3% Game: 44.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 6-9 66.7% Game: 63.6% 0
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HOME TEAM: William and Mary 8-8, 4-2 CAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
02 Schneider, David.... * 2-6 2-6 4-4 1 2 3 2 10 1 3 0 2 35
11 Mann, Nathan........ * 2-7 2-6 0-0 0 4 4 2 6 4 2 0 0 36
13 Kisielius, Laimis... * 4-14 0-5 0-0 1 1 2 3 8 2 1 0 1 27
15 Stein, Peter........ * 4-6 0-0 2-2 1 2 3 4 10 2 2 1 1 21
22 Sumner, Danny....... * 1-4 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 1 0 23
00 Hess, Steven........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 11
03 Sexton, John........ 1-2 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 8
23 Darnell, Chris...... 5-8 1-1 1-3 1 2 3 1 12 1 2 0 1 24
25 Stratton, Chris..... 1-2 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 1 3 0 0 0 1 15
Team................ 1 3 4
Totals.............. 20-49 7-22 8-11 6 19 25 15 55 10 11 3 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-23 30.4% 2nd Half: 13-26 50.0% Game: 40.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-11 27.3% 2nd Half: 4-11 36.4% Game: 31.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 3-5 60.0% Game: 72.7% 1
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Officials: Tim Nestor, Jerry Heater, Tony Dawkins
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. William and Mary-None.
Attendance: 3142
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 34 19 - 53
William and Mary.............. 22 33 - 55
Points in the paint-NU 16,W&M 18. Points off turnovers-NU 9,W&M 18.
2nd chance points-NU 4,W&M 8. Fast break points-NU 0,W&M 0.
Bench points-NU 8,W&M 18. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-NU 2nd-06:51, W&M 2nd-01:26.
