Chaisson Allen scored 17 points, Matt Janning scored 14 and Manny Adako made a huge layup after a missed free throw to help lead the Northeastern men's basketball team to a 60-55 victory over James Madison Saturday at the JMU Convocation Center in Harrisonburg, Va.
The Huskies improve to 4-4 on the season and start their CAA slate 1-0. JMU drops to 4-4, 0-1 in the CAA.
Northeastern had an 18-point lead, 39-21, with 14:25 left to play in the second half, but the Dukes responded by hitting big shots and playing a full court press defense. The Dukes had a 13-0 run from 12:52 to 9:34, aided by three NU turnovers created by the press. After Kyle Swanston nailed a three, Janning was pressured by Devon Moore into a turnover and fouled Swanston, who made both free throws. On the inbounds, Moore stole the ball from Eugene Spates and then hit a pair of free throws after a foul. The Huskies tried again, but Andrey Semenov stole the ball from Bataille. Semenov missed a three, and the Huskies rebounded when Janning picked up a layup, ending the JMU run.
James Madison took a brief 47-46 lead on Swanston's three-pointer at 5:15, but Allen connected on a layup inside and was fouled. He hit the free throw and gave NU a lead again, 49-47, with 4:56 to play.
JMU was threatening again when Janning was fouled with 3:18 left. Janning made the first shot, but missed the second, but Adako came up big with the rebound and he put it back in to reclaim a five-point lead, 54-49. Swanston hit another three to cut the lead to two, but Adako answered with a layup off a dish from Allen and drew a foul. He hit a free throw to make it 57-52 with 1:47 to play. The Dukes got within three again, but the Huskies held on after JMU missed three three-pointers in the final 12 seconds.
Swanston led the Dukes with 18 points while Moore added 12 and Julius Wells had 10. JMU was missing top scorers Juwann James and Abdulai Jalloh, who were injured.
Allen's season-high 17 points were on 7-of-10 shooting. He had three assists and just one turnover. Adako finished with 11 points and was perfect from both the field (4-for-4) and the charity stripe (3-for-3.
In the first half, the Husky defense forced James Madison into bad shots and turnovers. The Dukes shot only 31.6 percent from the field and committed nine turnovers. NU struggled with its shooting, but had enough offense from Allen and Janning, who combined to shoot 7-for-10 and score 17 points in the half.
With Northeastern leading 19-16 with 3:50 to play in the half, the Huskies took over with a 10-0 run to end the half. Allen hit a running jumper in the lane to make it a five-point lead. Janning then drained a big three-pointer at 2:36 to increase the lead to eight. Smith then connected on a three-point shot for an 11-point lead. Allen then stole the ball away from Dazzmond Thornton and took it to the basket for a fastbreak layup with 37 seconds left giving the Huskies a 29-16 lead at the break.
The Huskies will return to the Boston area and return to non-conference action when they take on local rival Harvard on Wednesday at Lavietes Pavilion at 7 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs James Madison
12/6/08 11 A.M. at JMU CONVOCATION CENTER/HARRISONBURG, VA.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: Northeastern 4-4, 1-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
11 Lima, Vinny......... f 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 10
20 Smith, Matt......... f 2-6 2-6 0-0 0 2 2 0 6 2 0 0 0 31
24 Spates, Eugene...... f 2-9 0-4 0-2 2 2 4 2 4 1 1 0 0 27
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 7-10 1-3 2-4 2 5 7 4 17 3 1 0 3 35
23 Janning, Matt....... g 5-8 2-3 2-4 1 1 2 1 14 2 2 1 3 39
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 0-2 0-2 0-1 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 0 0 11
31 Aragbaye, Allen..... 0-2 0-1 2-2 1 2 3 0 2 0 2 0 1 7
32 Adako, Manny........ 4-4 0-0 3-3 2 3 5 1 11 1 0 0 0 20
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... 0-3 0-0 4-6 0 1 1 2 4 0 1 0 0 20
TEAM................ 2 1 3 1
Totals.............. 21-47 5-20 13-22 10 18 28 14 60 10 11 1 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-27 44.4% 2nd Half: 9-20 45.0% Game: 44.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-15 33.3% 2nd Half: 0-5 0.0% Game: 25.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-1 0.0% 2nd Half: 13-21 61.9% Game: 59.1% 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: James Madison 4-4, 0-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 Swanston, Kyle...... f 5-11 4-7 4-4 1 3 4 3 18 0 2 0 0 38
34 Wells, Julius....... f 3-10 1-5 3-4 3 3 6 5 10 1 4 0 0 36
55 Thornton, Dazzmond.. f 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 3 2 0 3 0 0 11
40 Moore, Devon........ g 5-10 0-3 2-2 3 2 5 3 12 4 1 0 3 38
51 Curtis, Pierre...... g 1-5 1-2 0-0 3 1 4 2 3 1 1 0 0 28
04 Ratner, Heiden...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5
11 Semenov, Andrey..... 2-5 0-1 2-2 0 3 3 0 6 0 2 2 1 30
14 Louis, Ben.......... 2-4 0-1 0-0 0 5 5 5 4 1 1 0 0 14
Team................ 1 1
Totals.............. 19-47 6-19 11-12 10 21 31 22 55 7 14 2 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 6-19 31.6% 2nd Half: 13-28 46.4% Game: 40.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 4-13 30.8% Game: 31.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 9-10 90.0% Game: 91.7% 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Tim Nestor, Sean Casady, Haywood Bostic
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. James Madison-None.
Attendance: 3368
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 29 31 - 60
James Madison................. 16 39 - 55
Foul Outs: JMU: Wells 3:22, Louis 0:34
Points in the paint-NU 22,JMU 12. Points off turnovers-NU 14,JMU 16.
2nd chance points-NU 17,JMU 8. Fast break points-NU 6,JMU 0.
Bench points-NU 17,JMU 10. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-5 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-01:47, JMU 2nd-00:43.
Largest lead-NU by 18 2nd-14:25, JMU by 2 1st-19:38.
