The Northeastern University men's basketball team fell short in its bid to advance in the College Basketball Invitational, losing in the quarterfinals to UTEP 75-66 at the Bob Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas. Chaisson Allen scored a career-high 26 points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds for the Huskies.
The Huskies conclude their season with a 19-13 record. The Miners improve to 21-12 and will advance to the CBI semifinals to face Richmond.
In the first half, the Huskies and Miners were on equal footing except that UTEP was dominating on the boards and consequently getting second chance opportunities. The Miners outrebounded NU 17-13 in the first half and had a 12-2 advantage in second-chance points.
NU had its only lead of the first half at 5-4 after Matt Janning's long jumper at 13:58. Randy Culpepper then drained a lead to put the Miners on top 7-5. Allen tied it with a mid-range jumper on a pass from Nkem Ojougboh, but UTEP then went on a 20-5 run from 12:43 to 7:06 that included three putback dunks. Arnett Moultrie's putback dunk off a miss from Stefon Jackson made it 27-12 in favor of the Miners.
However, the Huskies battled back to get within single digits. Janning broke UTEP's run with a long three on a kickout pass from Baptiste Bataille. After a Jackson jumper, Allen had a reverse layup and Ojougboh had a layup to get the Huskies within 10, 29-19. After the two teams traded a free throw, Allen then made a layup on a pass from Janning to cut the deficit to eight, 30-22.
After a free throw from Julyan Stone, Ojougboh connected with a dunk on an alley oop pass from Janning to get the Huskies within seven, 31-24. Moultrie made a pair of free throws and Jackson nailed a layup to put UTEP back up 11. However, with 53 seconds left, Eugene Spates drained a three to send the Huskies to the half down only eight, 35-27.
After Janning started the second half by scoring six of NU's first 10 points, the Miners pulled away with a 12-2 run that put them up by 18, 57-39. Allen did his best to keep the Huskies in it, draining six three-pointers, including one at 5:40 that got the Huskies within 10, 65-55. However, that was as close as they could come as the Miners scored eight of the next 11 points to pull away.
The Miners shot 49.1 percent for the game and outrebounded the Huskies 32-27. They finished with 18 second-chance points to NU's nine. Jackson led the Miners with 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting. Culpepper had 21 points off the bench. Moultrie added 14 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.
To go with Allen's 26, Janning had 16 points and Ojougboh had 13. The Huskies shot 47.4 percent from the field, but did not get to the line much. They had just three free throw attempts and made just one.
The Huskies end their season with a very successful 19-13 record, their best mark under head coach
Bill Coen. Northeastern's season was highlighted by road wins at Providence, Indiana and VCU, matching its best record in the CAA at 12-6, earning its first-ever bye into the CAA Tournament and winning its first postseason game since 1984 with a victory over Wyoming in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs UTEP
03/23/09 8:00 p.m. at El Paso, Texas (Don Haskins Center)
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VISITORS: Northeastern 19-13
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
11 Lima, Vinny......... f 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 2 0 9
24 Spates, Eugene...... f 3-10 3-7 0-0 2 0 2 4 9 3 2 1 1 30
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 6-9 0-0 1-2 1 5 6 1 13 2 2 1 1 37
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 10-18 6-13 0-0 3 4 7 2 26 3 2 0 2 37
23 Janning, Matt....... g 7-16 2-6 0-0 2 3 5 1 16 3 2 0 1 37
01 Etherly, Erik....... 1-1 0-0 0-1 2 0 2 0 2 0 2 0 0 8
15 McDonald, Brian..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
20 Smith, Matt......... 0-3 0-2 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 5 2 0 1 31
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 5
33 Felix, Ben.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
TEAM................ 1 1 2 1
Totals.............. 27-57 11-28 1-3 12 15 27 14 66 17 15 4 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-25 44.0% 2nd Half: 16-32 50.0% Game: 47.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-12 33.3% 2nd Half: 7-16 43.8% Game: 39.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 0-1 0.0% Game: 33.3% 1
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HOME TEAM: UTEP 20-12,10-6 C-USA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 MOULTRIE, Arnett.... f 6-10 0-1 2-2 5 5 10 1 14 1 0 3 0 36
02 JONES, Jason........ f 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 2 0 1 2 0 1 20
13 PORTALATIN, Wayne... c 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 18
05 STONE, Julyan....... g 1-4 0-2 1-2 0 2 2 1 3 8 2 1 2 32
12 JACKSON, Stefon..... g 10-20 2-7 4-4 1 3 4 1 26 2 1 0 1 35
03 CULPEPPER, Randy.... 8-16 3-8 2-2 1 2 3 1 21 4 2 1 1 31
11 FFRENCH, Blaise..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 2
20 GORDON, Isaac....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
21 RASHIDUDDIN, Chano.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
23 McCULLEY, Gabriel... 2-3 2-3 4-4 1 1 2 1 10 3 3 1 3 23
31 MUNOZ, Eric......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 4 1 5
Totals.............. 27-55 7-21 14-16 13 19 32 11 75 19 13 6 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-30 46.7% 2nd Half: 13-25 52.0% Game: 49.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-10 30.0% 2nd Half: 4-11 36.4% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-6 66.7% 2nd Half: 10-10 100 % Game: 87.5% 2
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Officials:
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. UTEP-None.
Attendance: 7798
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 27 39 - 66
UTEP.......................... 35 40 - 75
Points in the paint-NU 28,UTEP 30. Points off turnovers-NU 12,UTEP 13.
2nd chance points-NU 9,UTEP 18. Fast break points-NU 5,UTEP 12.
Bench points-NU 2,UTEP 31. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-4 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-00:36, UTEP 2nd-03:46.
Largest lead-NU by 1 1st-17:50, UTEP by 18 2nd-09:47.
