Manny Adako's layup with 25 seconds remaining in the game put the Northeastern men's basketball team up for good as the Huskies knocked off first-place George Mason 58-57 Wednesday night at Matthews Arena.
The final two minutes of the game became chaotic after Patriots senior guard John Vaughan sustained an injury and was taken to a local hospital. There was a 20-minute delay before the teams resumed play with 2:12 left in the second half.
At the time of Vaughan's injury, Northeastern led 55-51. After play resumed, Nkem Ojougboh hit the second of two free throws to put NU up 56-51. The Patriots then battled back when Darryl Monroe scored on a jumper in the paint to cut the Husky lead to three, 56-53, with 1:58 left. Andre Cornelius then stole the ball from Ojougboh at half court and went in for the easy layup, making it 56-55 in NU's favor.
The Huskies turned the ball over once again when Monroe came up with a steal of Chaisson Allen with 1:19 left. Ojougboh fouled Cam Long inside and Long hit both free throws to put Mason up 57-56 with 56 seconds on the clock.
On the next Northeastern possession, the Huskies spread the ball around until Baptiste Bataille tossed the ball inside to Adako, who pump faked over a defender and then put in the layup. The fans went into a frenzy as the Huskies took a 58-57 lead with 25 seconds left.
On Mason's final possession, the team shuffled the ball around until it came up loose at the key. The Patriots couldn't get off a shot as the Huskies came away with the win.
Before his injury, Vaughan lit up the Huskies for 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, 5-for-7 from three-point range. He had 11 points in the second half, helping Mason overcome a seven-point halftime deficit.
Matt Janning led Northeastern with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. He carried the Huskies in the first half with 13 of the team's 32 points. He and Eugene Spates combined to drain four three-pointers in the first half. Spates' three-pointer at 4:38 of the first half gave the Huskies their largest lead of the game, 10 points at 28-18. He finished with 10 points. Matt Smith added 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
In a game between the top two defenses in the CAA, the points were low, but the shooting percentages were higher than expected. Northeastern shot 54.8 percent (23-for-42) for the game, 44.4 percent (8-for-18) from three-point range. George Mason shot 47.9 percent (23-for-48) from the field, 50 percent (7-for-14) from three-point range.
With the victory, the Huskies have reclaimed a share of first place with George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth, all at 7-1. Northeastern is now 12-6 overall while the Patriots fall to 14-4. This is the third straight year that the Huskies have knocked off Mason at Matthews Arena.
Northeastern will hit the road once again for a two-game, five-day trip, starting Saturday at Old Dominion at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on Comcast SportsNet.
Official Basketball Box Score
George Mason vs Northeastern
01/21/09 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena (Boston, MA)
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VISITORS: George Mason 14-4, 7-1 CAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
24 Pearson, Ryan....... f 2-5 0-0 1-3 1 1 2 1 5 0 1 0 0 17
32 Monroe, Darryl...... f 2-7 0-0 1-2 1 3 4 3 5 1 1 0 2 33
33 Birdsong, Louis..... f 4-6 0-0 0-1 3 1 4 1 8 0 2 1 1 26
02 Cornelius, Andre.... g 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 4 2 1 0 1 14
20 Long, Cam........... g 4-8 1-3 2-2 1 3 4 0 11 3 2 0 0 34
01 Smith, Dre.......... 1-8 1-4 0-0 1 1 2 3 3 1 0 0 1 33
13 Tate, Isaiah........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 3
22 Morrison, Michael... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 7
23 Vaughan, John....... 7-10 5-7 0-0 0 1 1 1 19 0 1 0 0 33
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 23-48 7-14 4-8 8 13 21 12 57 7 8 1 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-25 44.0% 2nd Half: 12-23 52.2% Game: 47.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 4-7 57.1% Game: 50.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-2 0.0% 2nd Half: 4-6 66.7% Game: 50.0% 3
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 12-6, 7-1 CAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
24 Spates, Eugene...... f 4-9 2-5 0-0 1 2 3 1 10 2 3 0 1 19
32 Adako, Manny........ f 4-6 0-0 1-1 1 1 2 3 9 2 1 1 0 30
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 1-3 0-1 2-2 2 5 7 3 4 1 3 1 1 32
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 1-4 0-2 0-0 1 4 5 0 2 4 2 1 2 32
23 Janning, Matt....... g 8-13 3-6 1-1 1 1 2 0 20 3 1 0 2 39
02 Alvarez, Chris...... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 3 2 3 2 0 0 19
11 Lima, Vinny......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
20 Smith, Matt......... 4-5 3-4 0-0 0 2 2 1 11 0 1 0 0 17
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 11
TEAM................ 1 1 1
Totals.............. 23-42 8-18 4-4 6 18 24 12 58 17 14 3 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-25 52.0% 2nd Half: 10-17 58.8% Game: 54.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-13 38.5% 2nd Half: 3-5 60.0% Game: 44.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-1 100 % 2nd Half: 3-3 100 % Game: 100 % 0
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Officials: Michael Stephens, Paul Faia, Brian O'Connell
Technical fouls: George Mason-None. Northeastern-None.
Attendance: 2300
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
George Mason.................. 25 32 - 57
Northeastern.................. 32 26 - 58
Points in the paint-MASON 22,NU 16. Points off turnovers-MASON 13,NU 6.
2nd chance points-MASON 8,NU 10. Fast break points-MASON 2,NU 2.
Bench points-MASON 24,NU 13. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-2 times.
Last FG-MASON 2nd-01:37, NU 2nd-00:25.
Largest lead-MASON by 1 2nd-00:56, NU by 10 1st-04:38.
