The men's basketball team played first-place Virginia Commonwealth tough, but the Huskies fell just short, losing to the Rams 66-62 Wednesday night at Matthews Arena.
Rams guard Eric Maynor provided his team the lift to the victory with 26 points, including 13-of-15 from the free throw line in the second half to help preserve the lead.
Sophomore captain Matt Janning led the Huskies with 15 points, his 14th consecutive double-digit scoring effort, which is the longest current streak in the CAA.
The first half was sluggish for both teams as Northeastern (12-14, 8-8 CAA) struggled with its shooting while VCU struggled with holding onto the ball. The Rams opened up an 11-4 lead as the Huskies were just three for their first eight from the floor.
Meanwhile VCU (20-6, 13-3 CAA) was making mistakes left and right, committing 10 turnovers in the first half that led to eight NU points. The Huskies though were not able to get into a shooting rhythm in the first half as they were only 38 percent from the field.
After the Huskies cut the VCU lead to six, 21-15, at 6:26, VCU went on an 11-4 run that included seven points from Maynor. The Huskies came back late in the half with a three-pointer from freshman Allen Aragbaye and a layup from freshman Vinny Lima to cut the deficit to 11, 35-24, at halftime.
The Huskies stormed out of the break with a 16-4 run to take their only lead of the game, 40-39, with 13:27 to play. Janning dunked the ball over two VCU players to open the run, freshman Chaisson Allen knocked down a long three to cut the deficit to two points and junior Eugene Spates drove to the hoop for a layup and a foul, hitting the free throw to give the Huskies the lead.
However, VCU came right back as Maynor picked up a foul on his way to the basket and hit two free throws to give the Rams the lead once again. Michael Anderson then dunked the ball in on an assist from Joey Rodriguez and the Rams had a three-point lead again, 45-42 with 11:09 to play.
The Huskies hung in with the Rams and was within three points a few times, but VCU kept drawing fouls inside and kept hitting its free throws. The Rams were 21-for-29 from the charity stripe while the Huskies were 13-for-19, but only 5-for-8 inside two minutes left in the game.
VCU had a six-point lead with under a minute left, but the Huskies did not quit as Allen picked up a three-point play with 11 seconds on the clock to come within three points, 63-60. But the Rams got the ball in Maynor's hands and he did not miss from the line.
In addition to Maynor's 26, Joey Rodriguez and Jamal Shuler each added 11 points. To go with Janning's 15, Allen had 13 points and four steals while sophomore Manny Adako added 12 points.
The Huskies will take a break from CAA play to take on Holy Cross this Saturday at the Hart Center in Worcester, Mass. at 4 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
VCU vs Northeastern
2/20/08 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena (Boston, MA)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: VCU 20-6, 13-3 CAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
11 Pishchalnikov, K.... f 3-4 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 2 6 1 1 3 0 21
15 Anderson, Michael... f 1-5 0-2 2-4 1 3 4 3 4 0 3 3 2 28
03 Maynor, Eric........ g 6-8 1-2 13-15 0 5 5 2 26 3 4 1 1 39
12 Rodriguez, Joey..... g 4-8 2-4 1-2 0 3 3 0 11 2 1 0 2 35
24 Shuler, Jamal....... g 4-4 2-2 1-2 1 3 4 2 11 2 1 0 2 36
01 Sanders, Larry...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 1 0 3
05 Rozzell, Brandon.... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 7
21 Ndongo, Franck...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
23 Kearse, Lance....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 3
42 Gwynn, T.J.......... 2-2 0-0 3-4 0 5 5 4 7 2 4 0 2 25
50 Nixon, Ed........... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 1
Totals.............. 20-33 5-12 21-29 3 22 25 19 66 10 19 8 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-21 66.7% 2nd Half: 6-12 50.0% Game: 60.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 0-4 0.0% Game: 41.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 19-25 76.0% Game: 72.4% 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: Northeastern 12-14, 8-8 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 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 9
32 Adako, Manny........ f 6-13 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 4 12 0 0 1 0 27
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 1-8 0-0 5-6 2 5 7 3 7 1 0 2 0 28
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 4-9 1-3 4-6 0 1 1 4 13 3 4 0 4 38
23 Janning, Matt....... g 6-12 1-2 2-4 4 2 6 0 15 0 2 0 1 39
10 Gunterberg, Johan... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
11 Lima, Vinny......... 3-4 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 6 0 1 0 0 12
24 Spates, Eugene...... 2-4 0-1 2-3 0 1 1 3 6 0 0 0 1 25
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 1 3 0 0 4
31 Aragbaye, Allen..... 1-2 1-1 0-0 2 1 3 5 3 1 1 0 0 18
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 23-54 3-7 13-19 12 13 25 20 62 6 11 3 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-26 38.5% 2nd Half: 13-28 46.4% Game: 42.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-3 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-4 50.0% Game: 42.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 10-15 66.7% Game: 68.4% 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Brian Dorsey, Paul Faia, Tim Kelly
Technical fouls: VCU-None. Northeastern-None.
Attendance: 1846
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
VCU........................... 35 31 - 66
Northeastern.................. 24 38 - 62
Points in the paint-VCU 22,NU 28. Points off turnovers-VCU 14,NU 22.
2nd chance points-VCU 1,NU 5. Fast break points-VCU 3,NU 6.
Bench points-VCU 8,NU 15. Score tied-2 times. Lead changed-2 times.
Last FG-VCU 2nd-02:19, NU 2nd-00:07.
