Box Score
Post-Game Press Conference

PEORIA, Ill., Dec. 6, 2011--The Northeastern men's basketball team lost a non-conference affair to the Bradley Braves, 79-68, on Tuesday night at Carver Arena. The Huskies, who led early in the second half and who twice rallied to within four points late in the game, couldn't overcome a 20-2 second half run by the Braves. Northeastern is now 3-4 (0-1 CAA) on the season.

Freshman Quincy Ford led Northeastern with a career-high 18 points and seven rebounds. It was the second time in as many games that Ford set a new career high, after tallying 16 on Saturday against Old Dominion. Jonathan Lee scored 13 points and dished out 11 assists for his first career double-double, to go with seven rebounds, while Joel Smith added 17 points and six rebounds for the Huskies.

Walt Lemon, Jr., scored a game-high 24 points to lead Bradley. Dyricus Simms-Edwards added 19 and Taylor Brown chipped in 11 for the Braves.

Trailing by three at the half, Northeastern opened the second half with two quick baskets to take a one-point lead, 37-36, and force a Bradley timeout. The Braves responded by scoring 20 of the game's next 22 points to take a commanding 17-point lead with 13 minutes remaining in the game.

Northeastern, though, would not go quietly. The Huskies put together a 12-2 run over three minutes, capped by a steal and a behind-the-back pass from Lee to Ford for a transition dunk, that cut the Bradley margin to seven.

The Braves answered with four-straight points, but Northeastern continued to chip away at the lead. When Lee connected on a three with 6:44 remaining, the Huskies had climbed all the way back to within four, at 64-60. A 7-0 Bradley run pushed the margin back to 11, but an 8-1 Northeastern answer again closed the gap to just four with 2:15 remaining. That was as close as the Huskies would get. Bradley made seven-of-eight free throws down the stretch to set the final margin, 79-68.

Bradley, which entered the game shooting just 22 percent from three-point range--including an 0-for-14 performance in their last outing--shot 50 percent (7-14) from long range, and 45 percent (27-60) overall. The Braves went to the free throw line 24 times, making 18 (75 percent).

Northeastern was 41 percent from the field (27-66). The Huskies struggled from beyond the arc, making just eight of 28 attempts (29 percent). Northeastern went to the free throw line just nine times, making six of those attempts (67 percent).

The game started slowly, with both teams combining for seven turnovers and just eight points by the first media timeout. The Huskies' zone defense limited Bradley to just 11 percent shooting (1-9) over the game's first four minutes.

A basket by Smith at 13:39 gave Northeastern its largest lead of the game at 14-9. The Huskies, though, scored just two points over the next five minutes. A three by Milos Knezevic drew Bradley even and two free throws by Lemon at 9:31 gave the Braves their first lead of the game at 18-16. The lead changed hands four more times before the end of the half, with Bradley taking a 36-33 lead into the break.

Ford, who scored 13 second half points against Old Dominion on Saturday, picked up where he left off, scoring a team-best 10 first-half points.

Northeastern will take an 11-day break from competition to focus on final exams before returning to the court on Dec. 18, when it welcomes Princeton to Matthews Arena for a 1 p.m. tip. That game will be the Huskies' fourth against last season's NCAA Tournament field. Northeastern holds a 2-1 record in those games.

GAME NOTES
> Quincy Ford scored a career-high 18 points
> Jonathan Lee collected his first-career double-double, with 13 points and 11 assists
> Lee scored in double figures for the 11th-consecutive game, and the 18th time in 19 games
> Northeastern registered a season-high 21 assists, its most since handing out 24 against VCU on Feb. 2, 2011
> Northeastern committed a season-high 23 turnovers, its most since committing 25 at Memphis almost three years ago, on Dec. 31, 2008
> The Huskies attempted a season-high 28 three-pointers, the highest figure since attempting 28 at UTEP on March 23, 2009