In a fast-paced game that featured 23 lead changes, the Northeastern University men's basketball team defeated Old Dominion 67-60 Wednesday night at Matthews Arena, giving the Huskies their third straight victory.
The difference in the game proved to be the Huskies' success at the free throw line as they were 24-for-27 from the stripe while the Monarchs only got to the line 12 times and made only five of them. The Huskies were 20-for-22 at the line in the second half alone. The Huskies, who came into the game third in the CAA in free throw shooting, have shot 82 percent or better from the line in three of their last four contests.
In the first half, both teams came out of the gate shooting well. Sophomore captain Matt Janning, who led all scorers with 20 points, connected on his first three shots, including two three-pointers, as the Huskies took a 10-8 lead at 16:34.
However, things got crazy from there as the teams traded the lead 19 times in the first half. At 9:05, the Huskies took the largest lead of the first half, 26-22, on freshman Chaisson Allen's layup, but the Monarchs would not give in, fighting back to take a 27-26 lead on a three by Darius James and a layup by Sam Harris.
Northeastern (10-12, 6-6 CAA) went into the break with a one-point advantage, 36-35, on the strength of a layup by sophomore Manny Adako and a jumper by Janning with 47 seconds left. Both teams played well offensively in the first half; the Huskies shot 56 percent and committed only four turnovers, and the Monarchs shot 50 percent in the first half and turned the ball over only twice.
It was a completely opposite game in the second half as the defenses took over. Old Dominion was only 26.5 percent from the floor in the second half while Northeastern was only 23.8 percent. The Huskies went 0-for-10 from the field in the first 6:29 of the second half, but remarkably was trailing by only one point when junior Eugene Spates connected on a jumper at 13:31 to give NU a 42-41 lead.
Old Dominion (11-13, 6-6 CAA) grabbed the lead back at 10:16 when Ben Finney hit one of two free throws, but after Allen missed a jumper, sophomore Nkem Ojougboh forcefully tipped the ball back in with a dunk to give NU the lead once more, 48-47, with 9:43 to play.
From there, the Huskies were able to get to drive to the hoop and draw fouls. After Ojougboh's dunk, the Huskies were 15-of-16 from the line, hitting 15 in a row until Janning missed one after the game was already out of reach. The Huskies have been impressive at the line when the game nears the end. For the season, they are shooting 75 percent from the line with two minutes left to play.
Old Dominion did put up a fight late, but Ojougboh's ferocious block on an attempted layup by Jonathan Adams at 6:24 stopped the Monarchs from getting within two points. Also, Allen's steal out of the hands of Brandon Johnson and resulting fastbreak layup at 1:43 helped take the momentum away from the Monarchs and helped the Huskies build up a big enough lead to win the game.
Leading scorer Janning earned his eighth 20-point scoring game of the season, which is fourth-best in the CAA. Adako added 16 points and eight rebounds. Ojougboh had nine points, eight rebounds and a career-high four blocks. Allen picked up 10 points and seven boards.
Abdi Lidonde led Old Dominion with 16 points. Monarchs leading scorer Gerald Lee was held to just 2-of-11 shooting and scored only four points.
The win pulls the Huskies into a tie with the Monarchs for sixth place in the CAA. Northeastern will remain at home and host William & Mary this Saturday at Matthews Arena at 1 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Old Dominion vs Northeastern
2/6/08 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena (Boston, MA)
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VISITORS: Old Dominion 11-13, 6-6 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 Finney, Ben......... f 4-11 0-3 4-7 1 1 2 3 12 1 0 1 2 29
21 Hassell,Frank....... f 4-6 0-0 0-4 1 3 4 4 8 0 0 0 0 24
12 Lee, Gerald......... c 2-11 0-1 0-0 4 2 6 3 4 1 2 2 0 29
00 Lidonde, Abdi....... g 6-10 4-7 0-0 0 0 0 2 16 2 0 0 1 30
03 James, Darius....... g 2-7 1-4 0-0 1 2 3 0 5 2 0 0 3 23
04 Johnson,Brandon..... 2-5 0-1 1-1 3 0 3 1 5 5 2 0 3 26
20 Henderson, Brian.... 1-5 1-4 0-0 0 2 2 5 3 2 2 1 0 15
30 Harris, Sam......... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 5
34 Adams, Jonathan..... 2-7 1-3 0-0 5 1 6 1 5 2 0 0 1 19
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 24-64 7-23 5-12 17 14 31 19 60 15 6 4 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-30 50.0% 2nd Half: 9-34 26.5% Game: 37.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 4-15 26.7% Game: 30.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-3 66.7% 2nd Half: 3-9 33.3% Game: 41.7% 3,1
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 10-12, 6-6 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 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 2 0 1 0 1 23
32 Adako, Manny........ f 5-5 0-0 6-7 2 6 8 1 16 1 3 1 0 33
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 2-5 0-0 5-6 4 4 8 0 9 2 3 4 0 30
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 3-10 0-1 4-4 2 5 7 3 10 1 1 0 1 35
23 Janning, Matt....... g 5-15 3-10 7-8 1 5 6 2 20 4 3 0 1 38
11 Lima, Vinny......... 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 3 5 2 2 0 0 1 0 11
24 Spates, Eugene...... 3-6 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 2 8 0 1 0 0 16
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 7
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 7
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 19-46 5-18 24-27 13 27 40 12 67 9 13 6 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-25 56.0% 2nd Half: 5-21 23.8% Game: 41.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-10 40.0% 2nd Half: 1-8 12.5% Game: 27.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 20-22 90.9% Game: 88.9% 2
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Officials: Joe Demayo, Pat Driscoll, Ron Tyburski
Technical fouls: Old Dominion-None. Northeastern-None.
Attendance: 952
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Old Dominion.................. 35 25 - 60
Northeastern.................. 36 31 - 67
Points in the paint-ODU 24,NU 20. Points off turnovers-ODU 17,NU 4.
2nd chance points-ODU 18,NU 16. Fast break points-ODU 2,NU 2.
Bench points-ODU 15,NU 10. Score tied-7 times. Lead changed-23 times.
Last FG-ODU 2nd-00:12, NU 2nd-01:43.
