Box Score

BOSTON, Mass., Jan. 28, 2012--Coming off a thrilling last-second win over Delaware on Wednesday, the Northeastern men's basketball team downed CAA-rival Hofstra, 58-51, on Saturday afternoon at Matthews Arena.

Jonathan Lee and Quincy Ford scored 17 points each and Reggie Spencer added 13 points and eight rebounds for the home side, as the Huskies notched their second-consecutive victory and their eighth win in their last 11 games. Joel Smith scored seven points, Alwayne Bigby tallied two points and seven rebounds, and Kauri Black added two points and five rebounds. With the victory, Northeastern moves to 11-10 overall and 7-4 in conference play.

CAA scoring leader Mike Moore tallied 17 points for the Pride (7-16, 1-10), a team that has struggled to a 1-10 record in the month of January. David Imes also reached double figures with 10 points.

Leading 30-27 at halftime, Northeastern opened the second half on a 10-2 run to increase the advantage to 11. The Huskies led by no fewer than six points the rest of the way.

Lee sparked the initial second-half surge with a shot from behind the arc less than 30 seconds into the half. The lead reached 11 before Hofstra cut the margin to seven at 42-35 with 10:49 remaining. That was as close as the Pride would come until the closing minutes.

A Ford 3-pointer extended the home lead to a game-high 12 points at 52-40 with 6:21 remaining, but Hofstra cut the margin to 8 points with 4:35 showing at 52-44.

The Pride got to within seven at 52-45 with 2:48 to play before a Lee jumper ended a four-minute drought for the Huskies to make the score 54-45 with two minutes to go.

Hofstra's Shemiye McLendon hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to six at 56-50 with 42 seconds to play, but the visitors would come no closer.

The Huskies held the Pride to just 23 percent shooting (7-31) from the field over the closing 20 minutes, and 30 percent (16-53) for the entire contest. Northeastern posted a 46 percent (20-44) shooting effort for the day and won the rebounding battle, 37-31.

Despite falling behind in the game's opening minutes, a Lee jumper gave the Huskies their first lead of the game at 14-13 with 12:37 remaining in the first half. Hofstra regained the lead a minute-and-a-half later and held the advantage until the 6:37 mark, when Northeastern's Smith knotted the score at 18, and then put the home side in front for good with a 3-pointer.

The Huskies entered the locker room holding a 30-27 advantage. Ford led Northeastern with 12 points over the first 20 minutes, while Moore had seven to pace the Pride in the opening frame.

Northeastern will be back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 1, at 7 p.m., when it welcomes Drexel to historic Matthews Arena. The Huskies will be looking to avenge their Jan. 21 loss to the Dragons in Philadelphia. ESPN3 will have live coverage of the game.

A replay of this game is available on GoNUxstream at GoNU.com/xstream. GoNUxstream is free to all viewers and features live and on-demand video and audio broadcasts, as well as live game stats, and is accessible on PC and Mac computers, as well as on iPhones, iPads and Android phones.


GAME NOTES
> Both coaching staffs participated in the Coaches vs. Cancer "Suits and Sneakers" event
> Northeastern head coach Bill Coen will donate $1 to the American Cancer Society for every student in attendance; the donation will be made in memory of late Northeastern professor Bruce Wallin
> Northeastern has won eight of its last 11 games and finished with a 7-3 record in the month of January
> The Huskies swept the regular-season series with Hofstra and have now won 13 of the last 16 head-to-head meetings
> Jonathan Lee has scored in double-figures in 30 of the last 33 contests
> Quincy Ford tied a career high with four made 3-point field goals
> Ford has scored in double figures in 11 of the last 15 games
> Joel Smith has made at least one 3-pointer in 40 of the last 43 games
> Lee shot a season-best 77.8 percent from the floor (7-9); his previous best this year was also against Hofstra (69.2 percent, 9-13)
> The Huskies are now 7-2 when winning the battle of the boards