The Northeastern University men's basketball team continued its defensive dominance by holding William & Mary to 30 percent shooting in a 51-42 win over the Tribe Saturday afternoon at Matthews Arena.
The win is the fourth in a row for the Huskies and over those four games, they have held their opponents to an average of just 47.8 points a game and just 32 percent shooting.
Sophomore Nkem Ojougboh led all scorers with 15 points on 6-of-9 from the field. Sophomore captain Matt Janning added 10 points and and four steals, his 11th consecutive game scoring in double figures.
The early part of the first half played out well for the Huskies (11-12, 7-6 CAA) as they got off to a 12-2 start, limiting the Tribe to 1-for-13 from the field in the first 10 minutes of the game. William & Mary was unable to hit a field goal between 19:17 and 9:22.
The Tribe got the game as close as four points, 19-15, but the Huskies closed out the half on a 6-0 run. With 14 seconds to go, Ojougboh squared up on his defender and knocked down a three. William & Mary's Steven Hess tried to inbound the ball, but Janning stole it and immediately hit a fadeaway jump shot from 15 feet away to make it 25-15 in NU's favor heading into the locker room.
Neither team shot particularly well in the first half, but the Huskies had a sizable advantage, 39 percent to the Tribe's 24 percent. The Huskies forced the Tribe into eight first-half turnovers, led by junior Chris Alvarez, who picked up three of his career-high four steals in the first frame.
The Huskies continued to play strong defense in the second half as the Tribe had two long stretches with out a field goal. The Huskies built up a 15-point lead, 38-23, as William & Mary did not connect between 17:48 and 13:12. Then the Tribe were without a field goal from 8:43 to 3:16 as the Huskies held on to an 11-point advantage.
The Tribe's Nathan Mann hit a couple of three-pointers late to make the game interesting. Trailing by seven and holding the ball with 30 seconds left, the Tribe looked to close the game to two possessions when Chris Stratton telegraphed his pass and sophomore Baptiste Bataille stripped David Schneider and ran it in for a fast break layup, effectively ending William & Mary's chances.
The two teams then ran out the final 20 seconds of the game as the Huskies picked up the victory.
Mann led the Tribe (13-10, 9-4 CAA) with 12 points. He scored 10 of those 12 points after collecting his fourth foul with 17:26 to play in the game.
Northeastern now finds itself in a tie with Delaware for fifth place in the conference. The Huskies will hit the road next Wednesday with a 7 p.m. tilt at Hofstra.
Official Basketball Box Score
William and Mary vs Northeastern
2/9/08 1 p.m. at Matthews Arena (Boston, MA)
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VISITORS: William and Mary 13-10, 9-4 CAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
13 Kisielius, Laimis... f 1-6 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 18
15 Stein, Peter........ f 3-5 0-0 0-0 3 8 11 2 6 0 5 0 2 30
22 Sumner, Danny....... f 3-7 1-3 2-2 1 3 4 2 9 0 1 0 0 23
02 Schneider, David.... g 2-8 1-6 2-2 2 1 3 3 7 3 3 0 3 34
11 Mann, Nathan........ g 3-12 2-6 4-5 0 1 1 4 12 2 1 0 0 30
00 Hess, Steven........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 3 0 0 5
03 Sexton, John........ 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 16
20 Carrabine, Kyle..... 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 8
23 Darnell, Chris...... 0-2 0-1 1-2 0 3 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 15
25 Stratton, Chris..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 17
45 Kitts, Marcus....... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 4
Team................ 3 3
Totals.............. 14-46 5-20 9-11 11 21 32 18 42 6 15 0 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 6-25 24.0% 2nd Half: 8-21 38.1% Game: 30.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 3-11 27.3% Game: 25.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 8-9 88.9% Game: 81.8% 2
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 11-12, 7-6 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 1-3 0-1 3-6 1 3 4 3 5 0 2 0 4 23
32 Adako, Manny........ f 0-1 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 18
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 6-9 1-1 2-4 2 4 6 2 15 2 1 1 1 32
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 2-4 1-2 0-0 0 4 4 1 5 5 5 1 0 35
23 Janning, Matt....... g 3-11 2-6 2-2 2 2 4 4 10 0 2 0 4 37
11 Lima, Vinny......... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 2 1 0 0 10
24 Spates, Eugene...... 2-8 1-5 2-2 2 4 6 1 7 0 0 0 0 23
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 1-2 0-1 1-2 0 1 1 1 3 0 1 0 1 8
50 Washington, Mark.... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 14
TEAM................ 1 1 1
Totals.............. 17-41 5-16 12-18 7 21 28 15 51 9 14 2 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-23 39.1% 2nd Half: 8-18 44.4% Game: 41.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-10 40.0% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 31.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 9-14 64.3% Game: 66.7% 2
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Officials: Mike Cowart, Alan Spainhour, Raymond Styons
Technical fouls: William and Mary-None. Northeastern-None.
Attendance: 1054
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
William and Mary.............. 15 27 - 42
Northeastern.................. 25 26 - 51
Points in the paint-W&M 16,NU 16. Points off turnovers-W&M 16,NU 12.
2nd chance points-W&M 8,NU 4. Fast break points-W&M 4,NU 2.
Bench points-W&M 6,NU 14. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-W&M 2nd-00:55, NU 2nd-00:23.
