The Northeastern University men's basketball team once again put up a huge defensive effort, limiting the CAA's leading scorer Antoine Agudio to just 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting as the Huskies came away with a 62-53 victory over Hofstra Wednesday night at the Mack Complex in Hempstead, N.Y.
The win is Northeastern's fifth in a row and third straight on the road. NU last won three consecutive road games during the 2003-04 season when the team beat UMBC, Maine and Stony Brook between Jan. 17 and Feb. 5. It was also NU's first win at Hofstra since 1996, snapping a seven-game slide there. The Huskies were led by sophomore captain Matt Janning, who scored a game-high 19 points, his 12th consecutive double-digit scoring effort.
The Huskies (12-12, 8-6 CAA) controlled most of the first half as Janning was able to score 12 points and the defense limited Agudio to eight points on 3-of-7 shooting. In the previous meeting, Agudio dropped 16 points on the Huskies in the first half. NU's biggest lead was nine points, which came at 8:36 when sophomore Nkem Ojougboh hurled in an offensive rebound and dunked it home for the 19-10 advantage.
The Huskies replicated the nine-point lead at 21-12, but that's when Hofstra (8-16, 5-9 CAA) got back into the contest with a 10-2 run that cut the NU lead to one point. Agudio sparked the comeback with a pair of free throws and then had a big basket when he drove to the lane from halfcourt and went around three Huskies for the easy layup. Darren Townes' free throws at 3:36 made it 23-22 Northeastern.
However, the Huskies did not relinquish the first-half lead as right after Townes' free throws, sophomore Manny Adako came back with a big jumper off the side to make it a three-point game and then Ojougboh cleaned up two NU misses with an offensive rebound and layup to make it 27-22. Free throws by Janning, sophomore Baptiste Bataille and junior Eugene Spates towards the end of the half gave the Huskies a 33-26 lead going into halftime.
In the second half, the Huskies struggled to put up points, but the defense continued its assault on Agudio, who was guarded tight and was forced to put up bad shots. He was 2-of-9 from the field, 0-for-7 from downtown, in the second half.
Despite Agudio's woes, the Pride were able to make it a game when they went on a 9-0 run in the middle of the half. After Adako's wide-open jumper at the free throw line made it 44-34, Townes hit a jumper, Agudio connected on a three-point play, Townes hit two free throws and Nathaniel Lester picked up a layup to cut NU's lead to 44-43 with 10:25 to play. Then the Huskies ripped the momentum away from Hofstra when Janning picked up a screen from senior Mark Washington and drilled home a three-pointer to re-claim a four-point lead, 47-43. Washington played a critical role in the game as he put in 24 minutes, grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots, all season highs.
Hofstra would get the deficit back down to three points, but Northeastern got the job done at the free throw line, connecting on 13 of 16 attempts in the final 6:06. The Huskies also had two critical defensive stops late in the game. Down by three and inbounding the ball, the Pride's Dane Johnson turned the ball over, allowing the Huskies to draw a foul and hit free throws. Following that, Agudio drove into the lane, but found nothing, and his kickout pass was intercepted by freshman Chaisson Allen, who then hit a free throw to make it a six-point game.
The Huskies put up a few more free throws late to ice the win.
Led by Janning, Northeastern had four players in double figures. Spates and Allen each had 11 points while Adako had 10. The Huskies shot only 34 percent in the game, but was 19-for-24 from the free throw line.
Charles Jenkins led Hofstra with 14 points. The Pride shot 38 percent, but were 0-for-8 from three-point land.
The Huskies, who are now just one game back of William & Mary and UNC Wilmington for third place in the CAA, face Georgia State this Saturday in Atlanta at 2 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs Hofstra
02/13/08 7 p.m. at Hempstead, NY (Mack Sports Complex)
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VISITORS: Northeastern 12-12, 8-6 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 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 8
32 Adako, Manny........ f 5-13 0-0 0-0 2 4 6 1 10 0 1 1 1 29
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 2-8 0-0 2-4 3 3 6 4 6 2 1 3 0 30
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 2-3 1-1 6-8 0 7 7 2 11 3 0 0 1 36
23 Janning, Matt....... g 6-17 3-9 4-4 1 2 3 3 19 4 2 0 2 39
11 Lima, Vinny......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 2
24 Spates, Eugene...... 3-11 1-6 4-4 4 3 7 1 11 1 0 0 1 26
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 0-0 0-0 3-4 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 6
50 Washington, Mark.... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 6 6 2 2 1 2 3 0 24
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 19-55 5-16 19-24 12 27 39 17 62 14 7 7 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-31 38.7% 2nd Half: 7-24 29.2% Game: 34.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 2-9 22.2% Game: 31.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-8 75.0% 2nd Half: 13-16 81.3% Game: 79.2% 2,1
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HOME TEAM: Hofstra 8-16, 5-9 CAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 Townes, Darren...... f 3-8 0-0 6-10 2 4 6 5 12 1 0 1 1 36
50 Johnson, Dane....... f 4-6 0-0 0-0 1 7 8 4 8 0 2 2 0 26
13 Agudio, Antoine..... g 5-16 0-7 3-4 0 4 4 3 13 2 3 0 1 39
20 Johnson, Greg....... g 1-6 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 3 2 5 1 0 0 32
22 Jenkins, Charles.... g 6-13 0-0 2-2 3 2 5 2 14 1 3 1 1 36
01 Lester, Nathaniel... 2-5 0-1 0-0 2 1 3 3 4 0 1 0 0 13
03 Sestokas, Zygis..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
12 Johnson, Ryan....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
32 Washington, Greg.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 5
45 Davis-Sabb, Mike.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 2 0 0 0 2 1 11
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 21-54 0-8 11-16 10 26 36 23 53 9 10 6 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-29 37.9% 2nd Half: 10-25 40.0% Game: 38.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-1 0.0% 2nd Half: 0-7 0.0% Game: 0.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-6 66.7% 2nd Half: 7-10 70.0% Game: 68.8% 0,1
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Officials: Jeff Clark, Ron Groover, Bob Testa
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. Hofstra-None.
Attendance: 1893
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 33 29 - 62
Hofstra....................... 26 27 - 53
Points in the paint-NU 14,HOFSTRA 34. Points off turnovers-NU 11,HOFSTRA 2.
2nd chance points-NU 9,HOFSTRA 12. Fast break points-NU 2,HOFSTRA 2.
Bench points-NU 16,HOFSTRA 4. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-08:14, HOFSTRA 2nd-00:36.
