Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Jan. 21, 2012 -- The Northeastern men's basketball team dropped a 71-53 decision to Drexel on Saturday afternoon at the Daskalakis Athletic Center in Philadelphia. Jonathan Lee scored a team-high 16 points for the Huskies, who now are 9-9 on the season and 5-3 in CAA play.

Drexel shot 60 percent from the floor, including 64 percent from 3-point range, and made 30 trips to the free throw line in the winning effort. The Dragons built an early 18-point lead from which the Huskies were never able to recover.

Lee continued his impressive shooting for the Huskies, connecting on better than 54 percent (6-11) of his attempts from the floor. The junior guard is now shooting 53 percent in CAA play. Quincy Ford joined Lee in double figures, scoring 10 points on a perfect 10-for-10 showing at the free throw line. Reggie Spencer added five points and a team-high seven rebounds for the visitors.

Derrick Thomas scored a game-high 20 points to lead four Drexel players in double figures. Thomas, who entered the game shooting just 29 percent from 3-point range, was a perfect 5-for-5 from beyond the arc. Samme Givens scored 19 points and Damion Lee and Frantz Massenat added 17 and 11, respectively.

Drexel opened the game on a torrid pace, connecting on 10 of its first 12 shots, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range, to build an 18-point lead, 25-7, just nine minutes into the game. 

The Huskies, though, responded with a 15-0 run. Northeastern held the Dragons scoreless for seven-and-a-half minutes during the run to cut the margin to just three, 25-22, with 3:35 remaining in the half.

Drexel answered with an 8-0 run of its own, the last five points coming from Givens, to push the lead back to 11. Kashief Edwards, playing in his native Philadelphia, hit a basket in the paint and Marco Banegas-Flores made a free throw to pull the Red and Black to within eight, 33-25, at the break.

After weathering the early onslaught, the Northeastern defense limited Drexel to just 1-of-7 shooting over the final 11 minutes of the first half. Lee and Spencer led the Huskies in the opening 20 minutes, scoring five points each. Givens scored 13 for the Dragons while Thomas tallied 12 on 4-for-4 shooting from long range.

The Dragons wasted little time asserting themselves in the second half, scoring eight of the first 11 points to build a 13-point lead, 41-28. The margin ballooned to 18 with nine minutes left, but a dogged Northeastern squad wouldn't surrender easily. The Huskies cut the margin to 11 and, after a defensive stop, possessed the ball with a chance to cut the lead to single-digits. Drexel, though, forced a missed shot and Northeastern could get no closer.

For the game, Northeastern shot 38.6 percent (17-44) from the floor, 20 percent (2-10) from 3-point range, and 73.9 percent (17-23) from the free throw line. Drexel made 60 percent (21-35) of its shot attempts, including 64.3 percent (9-14) from long distance. The Dragons made 30 trips to the charity stripe, converting on 66.7 percent (20-30) of those opportunities.

The Dragons out-rebounded the visitors, 28-23. Northeastern forced 14 Drexel turnovers but managed just 12 points off those turnovers, while Drexel converted 13 Huskies' miscues into 22 points.

Northeastern will play the third game of its stretch of five games in 11 days when it travels to Norfolk, Va., on Monday, Jan. 23, to face the Old Dominion Monarchs. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the game will be carried live on ESPN3. The Huskies, who dropped a 69-59 decision to ODU earlier this season, will be playing back-to-back road games for the seventh time this year.


GAME NOTES
> Saturday's loss was Northeastern's first in five games and just the second in eight games
> Jonathan Lee has scored in double figures in 27 of the last 30 games
> Lee is shooting 53 percent (46-87) in CAA play, including 50 percent (19-38) from 3-point range
> Quincy Ford has scored in double figures in nine of 13 games
> Joel Smith was held without a made 3-point field goal for the first time in 13 games and just the second time in 40 games
> Drexel achieved a number of season highs or near-season highs for a Northeastern opponent, including: 60 percent shooting (season high), 64.3 percent 3-point shooting (season high), nine made 3-point field goals (ties second-highest), 30 free throw attempts (second highest)
> Drexel also set a new season-low by a Northeastern opponent by attempting just 35 field goals
> Northeastern season lows or near-season lows: 53 points (second-fewest), 17 made field goals (second-fewest), 10 3-point attempts (second-fewest), 23 rebounds (season-low), four assists (season-low)