Ben Finney scored a career-high 20 points and the Old Dominion Monarchs erased a six-point halftime deficit with an 18-4 second half run to beat the Northeastern University men's basketball team 70-58 Wednesday night at the Constant Center in Norfolk, Va.
The loss leaves Northeastern with an 8-9 record in the CAA going into the season finale on Saturday. The Huskies, currently in seventh place, can still finish sixth with a win and a Delaware loss Saturday.
The Huskies played a strong first half and went into halftime with a 33-27 lead. Junior Eugene Spates played a large role in attaining that lead as he poured in 11 first-half points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 3-for-5 from three-point range.
Northeastern (12-16, 8-9 CAA) got out to a 12-3 lead as sophomore captain Matt Janning pulled up a three, Spates knocked down a wide open three on a pass from Janning and hit a layup inside after driving to the hoop. Free throws by freshman Chaisson Allen at 14:42 gave the Huskies the nine-point advantage.
Old Dominion made it a game again and Finney was responsible for it, scoring eight consecutive Monarch points between 12:57 and 10:19 to get his team to within five, 16-11.
The Huskies had a nine-point lead again at 7:51 after Allen drilled home a trey, making the score 20-11. The Monarchs answered back with a 10-0 run that was finished by Gerald Lee's turnaround jumper at 4:58, giving ODU a 21-20 lead.
The Huskies responded with a flurry of three-pointers as Allen hit his second from downtown and Spates hit threes on back-to-back possessions, putting NU back on top. Sophomore Nkem Ojougboh's dunk on a great pass from sophomore Baptiste Bataille with 48 seconds left put the exclaimation point on NU's six-point halftime lead.
However, the Monarchs (17-13, 11-6 CAA) came out on fire in the second half, quickly erasing the deficit with six field goals on six shots between 17:47 and 14:06. Lee scored six consecutive ODU points in that span and Brandon Johnson hit a three that pulled the Monarchs within three at 43-40. Brian Henderson then tied it at 12:36 with a long three-pointer and Abdi Lidonde gave his team the lead with a layup inside at 12:04.
Freshman Vinny Lima tied it for Northeastern with his own layup, but Jonathan Adams gave ODU the lead for good with a layup inside at 10:02. The Monarchs expanded the lead as the Huskies failed to score between 6:48 and 1:12.
To go with Finney's 20 points, Lee added 12 points and 12 rebounds. Johnson had 12 points as well.
Janning scored a team-high 14 points, his 16th consecutive double-digit scoring effort, which is now the longest streak in the CAA this season. Ojougboh, Allen and Spates all chipped in 11 points for the Huskies.
Northeastern will wrap up the regular season with a Saturday afternoon affair against George Mason at Matthews Arena at 2 p.m. It will be Senior Day and the Huskies will honor Mark Washington in a pre-game ceremony. The game will also be televised by Comcast SportsNet.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs Old Dominion
02-27-08 7:00 p.m. at Norfolk, VA/Constant Convocation Center
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VISITORS: Northeastern 12-16 (8-9 CAA)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
02 Alvarez, Chris...... f 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
32 Adako, Manny........ f 1-2 0-0 1-2 1 3 4 4 3 1 2 2 0 27
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 4-7 0-0 3-6 3 4 7 3 11 2 2 0 1 30
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 3-7 2-4 3-3 1 4 5 2 11 4 1 0 0 33
23 Janning, Matt....... g 5-13 4-9 0-0 0 2 2 2 14 2 4 0 2 35
11 Lima, Vinny......... 2-6 0-1 0-0 4 0 4 0 4 0 0 0 0 11
20 Smith, Matt......... 0-1 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 1
24 Spates, Eugene...... 4-11 3-8 0-1 0 4 4 1 11 1 1 2 1 32
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 0-4 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 3 0 3 0 0 1 14
31 Aragbaye, Allen..... 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 6
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
Team................ 2 1 3 3
Totals.............. 20-55 9-26 9-14 12 20 32 15 58 13 14 4 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-29 34.5% 2nd Half: 10-26 38.5% Game: 36.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-14 42.9% 2nd Half: 3-12 25.0% Game: 34.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-9 77.8% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 64.3% 2
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HOME TEAM: Old Dominion 17-13 (11-6 CAA)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
12 Lee, Gerald......... f 5-12 0-0 2-2 2 10 12 3 12 1 2 0 1 29
30 Harris, Sam......... c 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 4
00 Lidonde, Abdi....... g 2-7 1-4 0-0 0 1 1 1 5 2 1 1 1 15
04 Johnson,Brandon..... g 5-9 2-2 0-0 2 2 4 2 12 4 0 0 3 26
20 Henderson, Brian.... g 1-4 1-2 2-2 0 2 2 1 5 1 0 0 1 30
02 Finney, Ben......... 8-13 1-2 3-3 2 4 6 4 20 3 0 0 2 26
03 James, Darius....... 3-6 0-1 0-1 0 0 0 1 6 4 0 0 1 24
21 Hassell,Frank....... 3-5 0-0 0-0 4 2 6 0 6 2 3 4 0 31
23 Neely, Marsharee.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
34 Adams, Jonathan..... 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 2 2 1 2 0 0 15
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 28-59 5-11 9-10 12 26 38 14 70 18 10 5 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-29 37.9% 2nd Half: 17-30 56.7% Game: 47.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-5 20.0% 2nd Half: 4-6 66.7% Game: 45.5% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 5-6 83.3% Game: 90.0% 0
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Officials: Bryan Kersey, Tim Kelly, Jeff Nichols
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. Old Dominion-None.
Attendance: 6532
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 33 25 - 58
Old Dominion.................. 27 43 - 70
career high points for Finney
Points in the paint-NU 12,ODU 46. Points off turnovers-NU 6,ODU 17.
2nd chance points-NU 3,ODU 8. Fast break points-NU 2,ODU 20.
Bench points-NU 19,ODU 34. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-5 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-00:15, ODU 2nd-00:27.
