Chaisson Allen scored a career-high 21 points, and Baptiste Bataille chipped in a career-high 14 points off the bench to lead the Northeastern University men's basketball team to a 77-65 win over UNC Wilmington Saturday at Matthews Arena.
The Huskies, who shot a season-high 56.3 percent and set a season high for points scored, improved to 16-7 overall, 11-2 in the CAA. Northeastern will maintain at least a one-game lead in the CAA. UNC Wilmington drops to 6-19 overall, 3-10 in the CAA.
Allen was 8-for-11 from the field and over the last two games, he has been NU's leading scorer while going 12-for-18 from the floor, 7-for-11 from three-point range. For the third straight game, the Huskies played from the perimeter. Half of their field goal shots were three-point shots (24 out of 48)
The Seahawks were led by Johnny Wolf, who had 19 points, and Dominique Lacy, who had 18. Leading scorer Chad Tomko was in foul trouble the entire game and finished with nine points after fouling out with 1:17 to play.
The first half started sluggish for Northeastern as the Seahawks got out to a 5-0 lead on a three from Tomko and a layup from Jerel Stephenson and then a 14-9 lead after a jumper from Wolf, a steal by Darryl Felder and then a layup from Daniel Mercer at 13:15.
The Huskies got back into it as Allen led the offensive charge with a dish to Matt Smith for a layup at 12:16 followed by Smith passing to Allen for an open three-pointer at 11:19 to tie the game at 16-16. That was the third of seven ties in the first half as both teams fought hard.
After Wolf's 15-foot jumper at 4:22 created the seventh tie of the game at 25-25, the Huskies went on an 11-4 run to close out the half. Bataille drained a three-pointer on a pass from Matt Janning. Wolf made a layup to close within one, but Allen came back down and made another three, his third of the half. Following a miss from Stephenson, Bataille put NU up by seven with another trey, again off a pass from Janning. NU led 34-27 and ended up leading by seven at halftime, 36-29. Allen scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half.
Northeastern never trailed after in the second half, though the Seahawks were able to get within three, 37-34, at 18:47 after a Tomko three and a quick jumper from Lacy after grabbing a rebound off a Manny Adako miss.
With the 12-5 run that followed, Northeastern was able to take its first double-digit lead of the game, 49-39, with 14:34 to play. The Huskies got that lead up to 12, 61-49, at the 5:16 mark, but UNC Wilmington kept fighting back. Lacy knocked down back-to-back threes to get the Seahawks back within six, 61-55, at the four-minute mark.
However, Bataille was there to put the nail in the coffin. He took a kick-out pass from Eugene Spates and sank a three-pointer at 3:08. After Lacy missed a three of his own, Bataille then connected on a trey again at 2:26 to put the Huskies back up 12, 67-55.
Three-pointers from Tomko and Lacy once again got UNCW within six points, but the Huskies played it cool from the free throw line, making all 10 shots from the line in the final two minutes to put the game away.
Both teams ended up shooting 10-for-24 from downtown. The Seahawks finished at 43.3 percent from the floor. The Huskies outrebounded UNCW 34-22.
Four players ended up with double figures in scoring for Northeastern, including Allen (21), Bataille (14), Janning (13) and Spates (11).
Northeastern will next face Drexel this coming Wednesday at Matthews Arena at 7 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
UNC Wilmington vs Northeastern
02/07/09 1 p.m. at Matthews Arena (Boston, MA)
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VISITORS: UNC Wilmington 6-19, 3-10 CAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 Lacy, Dominique..... f 7-13 3-5 1-2 4 3 7 3 18 1 1 1 1 31
03 Jeralds, Darion..... g 2-2 1-1 0-0 0 3 3 1 5 1 1 0 1 23
05 Tomko, Chad......... g 3-7 3-5 0-0 0 0 0 5 9 0 0 0 0 14
14 Wolf, Johnny........ g 8-16 3-8 0-0 0 2 2 1 19 2 1 0 2 37
22 Stephenson, Jerel... g 2-6 0-0 0-0 3 0 3 2 4 4 2 0 0 31
01 Downey, Montez...... 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9
23 Moore, Kevon........ 3-10 0-1 2-4 0 2 2 3 8 2 1 0 0 27
30 Felder, Darryl...... 0-3 0-2 0-0 1 3 4 3 0 1 1 0 1 19
50 Mercer, Daniel...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 9
TEAM................ 1 1 1
Totals.............. 26-60 10-24 3-6 9 13 22 18 65 11 8 1 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-31 41.9% 2nd Half: 13-29 44.8% Game: 43.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 7-15 46.7% Game: 41.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 3-6 50.0% Game: 50.0% 0,1
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 16-7, 11-2 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 4-8 2-5 1-1 0 3 3 2 11 4 2 1 0 25
32 Adako, Manny........ f 3-7 0-0 2-3 2 2 4 3 8 2 3 0 0 28
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 6 6 1 4 0 3 3 0 20
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 8-11 3-6 2-2 1 5 6 2 21 2 0 0 2 37
23 Janning, Matt....... g 4-8 1-4 4-4 1 5 6 1 13 3 3 1 0 36
02 Alvarez, Chris...... 1-1 0-0 2-2 2 2 4 2 4 0 1 0 0 16
11 Lima, Vinny......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
20 Smith, Matt......... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 0 7
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 4-10 4-9 2-2 1 2 3 2 14 2 0 0 1 23
31 Aragbaye, Allen..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 27-48 10-24 13-14 7 27 34 13 77 14 13 5 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-27 55.6% 2nd Half: 12-21 57.1% Game: 56.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-14 42.9% 2nd Half: 4-10 40.0% Game: 41.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 13-14 92.9% Game: 92.9% 1,1
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Officials: Brian Dorsey, William Humes, Bob Testa
Technical fouls: UNC Wilmington-None. Northeastern-None.
Attendance: 2073
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
UNC Wilmington................ 29 36 - 65
Northeastern.................. 36 41 - 77
Points in the paint-UNCW 18,NU 22. Points off turnovers-UNCW 19,NU 9.
2nd chance points-UNCW 15,NU 8. Fast break points-UNCW 8,NU 2.
Bench points-UNCW 10,NU 20. Score tied-7 times. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-UNCW 2nd-00:24, NU 2nd-02:26.
Largest lead-UNCW by 5 1st-18:29, NU by 12 2nd-05:16.
