The Northeastern University men's basketball team fought back from a 10-point first half deficit to defeat the Georgia State Panthers 64-62 Saturday afternoon at Matthews Arena.
It's the second straight year that the Huskies erased a halftime deficit to beat the Panthers at Matthews Arena. On Jan. 10, 2007, the Huskies trailed by 14 points at the break only to storm back and win, 84-69.
The Panthers had a chance to win this game, but Leonard Mendez missed two three-point shots, including one at the buzzer.
The Huskies were led by sophomore Manny Adako, who poured in 18 points and five rebounds. He scored 14 of his points in the second half on 6-of-8 shooting. Sophomore Nkem Ojougboh scored 14 points, his sixth consecutive game with double figures. Sophomore captain Matt Janning chipped in 12 points. All eight Huskies that got into the game scored at least two points.
Mendez led the Panthers (4-9, 1-2 CAA) with 21 points.
In the first half, the two teams were close for the first 12 minutes before Georgia State used a 14-4 run to propel itself to a 33-23 lead with 1:24 left before halftime. Mendez scored nine of those 14 points, including a fast break layup off a D.J. Jones steal at 1:51. Northeastern closed the gap to eight points after freshman Chaisson Allen fed Ojougboh with a pass that turned into a layup, making it 33-25 at the half.
Northeastern had connected on only one three-pointer on 10 attempts in the first half.
The Huskies (5-8, 1-2 CAA) immediately got back into the game as an 11-2 NU run between 18:34 and 14:15 brought the game to a 40-40 tie. Janning hit two buckets during the run while junior Chris Alvarez hit a big three-pointer on an Ojougboh assist.
Georgia State came right back with five straight points as Trae Goldston knocked down a three and Mendez came up with a quick layup.
After Matt Janning hit a jumper to cut it to 45-42 Panthers, the two teams scuffled that resulted in two technical fouls for each team. After a bit of a delay to sort things out, Adako knocked down a jumper and Ojougboh hit two free throws to give the team its first lead of the second half, 46-45, with 10:52 remaining.
The two teams traded points for the next few minutes and when the game was tied at 54-54, Goldston hit another big three-pointer, this time from D.J. Jones, to give GSU a 57-54 lead with 5:14 to play.
Ojougboh hit two more free throws to close to within one and then Rashad Chase hit only one of two free throws, leading to the Huskies tying the game when Adako hit another layup, making it 58-58 with 3:32 left. After Jones was called for a charge, Adako came up clutch again with a short jumper on a feed from Allen to give NU a 60-58 advantage.
The Allen-to-Adako play worked again with 47 seconds left as Allen drove in and dumped it off to Adako, who laid it in for a 62-58 lead.
The Panthers answered when Kevin Lott drove to the hoop for a layup, making it 62-60. Janning was fouled on NU's next possession and he hit two more free throws to make it 64-60. The Huskies were solid from the charity stripe for the game, connecting on 80 percent (14-for-18) of their attempts, including hitting all eight of them in the last nine minutes of the game.
With 20 seconds left, Jones hit a layup to bring it to within two. On the next NU possession, Alvarez turned the ball over, giving GSU one last chance. Mendez took the ball and missed one three-pointer, but got his own rebound after it was tipped around. He squared up for a second shot at the buzzer, but missed that as well, ending the contest in Northeastern's favor.
Northeastern will be back in action next Wednesday, Jan. 9 when the Huskies host Drexel in a CAA matchup at Matthews Arena at 7 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Georgia State vs Northeastern
1/5/08 1 p.m. at Matthews Arena (Boston, MA)
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VISITORS: Georgia State 4-9, 1-2 CAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
14 Ali, Jihad.......... f 4-5 2-3 2-2 0 3 3 1 12 0 0 0 3 23
15 Chase, Rashad....... f 0-2 0-0 3-4 1 5 6 3 3 3 3 0 0 25
32 Billingslea, Justin. c 2-4 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 4 4 0 4 0 1 24
11 Goldston, Trae...... g 4-12 3-6 0-0 0 3 3 2 11 2 0 0 0 31
21 Mendez, Leonard..... g 7-12 2-6 5-5 1 2 3 2 21 0 0 1 0 36
22 Jones, D.J.......... 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 3 2 4 4 0 1 22
24 Krubally, Ousman.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
30 Lott, Kevin......... 2-2 0-0 3-5 0 0 0 0 7 1 0 0 0 20
50 Dickerson, Deven.... 0-5 0-0 2-2 2 2 4 4 2 1 0 2 0 17
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 20-45 7-16 15-18 7 15 22 19 62 11 11 3 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-25 40.0% 2nd Half: 10-20 50.0% Game: 44.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-9 55.6% 2nd Half: 2-7 28.6% Game: 43.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-9 88.9% 2nd Half: 7-9 77.8% Game: 83.3% 2
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 5-8, 1-2 CAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
24 Spates, Eugene...... f 1-5 1-4 0-0 0 3 3 1 3 0 2 0 1 19
32 Adako, Manny........ f 8-11 0-0 2-6 2 3 5 1 18 0 2 0 1 35
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 3-5 0-0 8-8 1 3 4 3 14 2 0 0 0 31
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 1-4 0-2 2-2 2 1 3 1 4 4 4 0 1 35
23 Janning, Matt....... g 5-11 0-5 2-2 1 3 4 3 12 3 1 0 0 37
02 Alvarez, Chris...... 3-7 1-1 0-0 0 4 4 3 7 0 1 0 2 27
10 Gunterberg, Johan... 1-3 0-2 2-2 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 7
50 Washington, Mark.... 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 1 2 0 1 1 0 9
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 23-47 2-14 16-20 11 19 30 14 64 9 11 1 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-28 39.3% 2nd Half: 12-19 63.2% Game: 48.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-10 10.0% 2nd Half: 1-4 25.0% Game: 14.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 14-18 77.8% Game: 80.0% 2
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Officials: Mark Schnur, Larry Scirotto, Raymond Styons
Technical fouls: Georgia State-Jones, D.J.; Goldston, Trae.
Northeastern-Alvarez, Chris; Adako, Manny.
Attendance: 832
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Georgia State................. 33 29 - 62
Northeastern.................. 25 39 - 64
Points in the paint-GAST 20,NU 34. Points off turnovers-GAST 15,NU 8.
2nd chance points-GAST 4,NU 16. Fast break points-GAST 6,NU 2.
Bench points-GAST 11,NU 13. Score tied-9 times. Lead changed-6 times.
Last FG-GAST 2nd-00:20, NU 2nd-00:47.
