UNC Wilmington used a 15-0 run midway through the first half and a 72-percent shooting second half to secure a 77-69 victory over the Northeastern University men's basketball team Wednesday night in front of a raucous crowd at Trask Coliseum in Wilmington, N.C.
The Huskies struggled to keep up with the CAA's best shooting team as the Seahawks shot 60 percent (27-for-45) for the game, the first time an opponent has faired that well against Northeastern since the Florida Gators were 61.8 percent from the field on Dec. 22, 2003.
The Huskies (7-11, 3-5 CAA) got off on the right foot, holding the lead for the first 14 minutes of the contest. Up 6-5, the Huskies went on a 6-0 run. Sophomore Manny Adako missed a layup, grabbed the rebound and put it back in for an 8-5 lead. Freshman Chaisson Allen followed with a pull-up jumper to make it 10-5. Adako then made a good move beating Vladimir Kuljanin off the dribble for an easy 12-foot jumper for the 12-5 lead with 16:10 on the clock.
After the Seahawks cut the Husky lead to 14-12, Northeastern reeled off seven straight points as sophomore captain Matt Janning hit a jumper and followed it up with a big three-pointer on a kickout pass from Allen to make it 21-12, NU's largest lead of the game, with 10:45 to play in the first half.
From there, UNC Wilmington took control of the game with a 15-0 run, holding the Huskies scoreless for 8:55. The biggest thorn in Northeastern's side was guard Daniel Fountain, who drained five three-pointers, four of them coming in the final nine minutes of the first half, two of them coming on back-to-back UNCW possessions inside of two minutes. Fountain scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half.
UNC Wilmington wrapped up the first half on a 23-4 run and went into the locker room with a 35-25 lead.
In the second half, the Huskies trailed by 13 at 14:33, but they came back and brought the deficit down to four points, 48-44, at 9:49. Sophomore Baptiste Bataille nailed a three-pointer to make it 48-39, freshman Vinny Lima collected his first two collegiate points with a running layup to make it 48-41 and junior Eugene Spates drained a three-pointer on a Bataille kickout to bring NU to within four.
The two teams traded shots for the next few minutes and the Huskies were able to bring it to within three at 8:05 when Lima sank a shot from downtown, at 5:55 when Janning pulled up a jumper from the top of the paint and again at 4:58 when Adako hit a hook shot. At that point, it was 57-54 Seahawks.
UNCW (12-8, 5-3 CAA) put it away from there though as following Adako's score, T.J. Carter knocked down a jumper and drew a foul for the three-point play, pushing the lead to 60-54. Carter followed it up with a three-pointer, giving the Seahawks a nine-point lead, 63-54, with 4:02 to play.
Carter scored all of his 17 points in the second half, including eight straight UNCW points between 5:15 and 4:02.
Janning led all scorers with 21 points, his seventh 20-point effort of the season. Lima added 10 points, shooting 4-for-7 from the field. Adako chipped in 10 points as did Bataille, who set a career high in points for the third time in his last five games. Sophomore Nkem Ojougboh was limited to nine points, stopping his double-figure scoring streak at 10 games.
In addition to Carter and Fountain's 17 points, Kuljanin scored 14 points and Todd Hendley added 11. The Seahawks outscored the Huskies in the paint by a margin of 40-22.
The Huskies head back home to face Hofstra in a CAA matchup at Matthews Arena Saturday at 1 p.m. Prior to the game, Northeastern will hold a Husky FanFest at the Alumni Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs UNC Wilmington
01/23/08 7 p.m. at Wilmington, N.C. (Trask Coliseum)
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VISITORS: Northeastern 7-11 (3-5 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...... f 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 18
32 Adako, Manny........ f 4-8 0-0 2-2 2 3 5 0 10 1 1 0 1 36
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 4-8 0-0 1-2 3 1 4 4 9 1 3 0 0 31
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 3-7 0-2 0-1 0 1 1 3 6 1 3 0 0 25
23 Janning, Matt....... g 8-13 3-6 2-4 2 0 2 5 21 4 3 0 2 38
10 Gunterberg, Johan... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
11 Lima, Vinny......... 4-7 2-3 0-0 1 0 1 2 10 0 2 0 2 13
24 Spates, Eugene...... 1-7 1-4 0-0 1 4 5 3 3 2 1 0 0 22
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 2-5 2-4 4-5 0 0 0 1 10 5 1 0 1 15
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 26-56 8-20 9-14 10 12 22 19 69 15 14 0 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-25 44.0% 2nd Half: 15-31 48.4% Game: 46.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-8 12.5% 2nd Half: 7-12 58.3% Game: 40.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-3 66.7% 2nd Half: 7-11 63.6% Game: 64.3% 3
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HOME TEAM: UNC Wilmington 12-8 (5-3 CAA)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
41 Hendley, Todd....... f 4-8 0-0 3-3 0 1 1 3 11 2 6 0 0 31
32 Kuljanin, Vladimir.. c 7-8 0-0 0-2 1 7 8 0 14 2 6 0 0 32
02 Carter, T.J......... g 5-8 1-2 6-6 1 2 3 3 17 5 3 0 1 33
04 Fountain, Daniel.... g 5-7 5-7 2-2 1 1 2 1 17 2 2 1 3 32
05 Tomko, Chad......... g 1-3 0-1 5-6 0 3 3 5 7 1 2 0 1 21
00 Davis, Marlo........ 2-2 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 4 5 1 3 0 2 13
01 Downey, Montez...... 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 13
03 Jeralds, Darion..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
12 Sheets, Josh........ 0-3 0-2 0-0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
21 Lacy, Dominique..... 2-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 3 4 2 0 0 0 13
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 27-45 7-15 16-19 7 22 29 20 77 15 22 1 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-27 51.9% 2nd Half: 13-18 72.2% Game: 60.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-13 46.2% 2nd Half: 1-2 50.0% Game: 46.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-3 33.3% 2nd Half: 15-16 93.8% Game: 84.2% 2
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Officials: Ron Groover (r), Bill Covington, Gary Pucino
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. UNC Wilmington-None.
Attendance: 5891
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 25 44 - 69
UNC Wilmington................ 35 42 - 77
Points in the paint-NU 22,UNCW 40. Points off turnovers-NU 18,UNCW 18.
2nd chance points-NU 2,UNCW 4. Fast break points-NU 0,UNCW 6.
Bench points-NU 23,UNCW 11. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-NU 2nd-00:34, UNCW 2nd-00:00.
