Box Score

BOSTON, Mass., Feb. 18, 2012 -- Participating in the 10th annual Sears BracketBusters event, the Northeastern men's basketball team fell to visiting Stony Brook, 76-69, on Saturday afternoon at Matthews Arena. Despite holding a nine-point lead with just under six minutes to play, the Huskies fell victim to a 17-2 Stony Brook run that gave the America East-leading Seawolves a lead that they never surrendered. With the loss, Northeastern is now 12-15 (8-8 CAA) on the season.

For the second consecutive game and the fifth time this season, four Northeastern players reached double-figures. Joel Smith (Leander, Texas) scored 20 points on six 3-pointers, Jonathan Lee (Flint, Mich.) posted 15, Quincy Ford (St. Petersburg, Fla.) added 12, and Kauri Black (Rialto, Calif.) tallied 10 points for the Huskies. Dave Coley carried Stony Brook (18-8, 12-2 AE) with 21 points to help the visitors pick up their first non-conference road win of the season.

With the game tied, 35-35, at halftime, both sides traded leads early in the second half before a Smith lay-in capped a 10-2 Huskies spurt, putting the hosts ahead 49-42 at the 11:40 mark. Appearing to be in control of the contest, Northeastern extended its lead to as many nine points on two occasions (55-46 and 62-53) but the Seawolves refused to go away.

Trailing 62-53 with 5:53 remaining, the Seawolves outscored the Huskies 23-7 to close out the game, including a 17-2 spurt that gave the visitors a commanding 70-64 lead with 1:39 to play. Marcus Rouse ignited the comeback effort, connecting on a jumper that cut the Stony Brook deficit to 62-55. After surrendering a bucket to Lee with 4:19 to go, Stony Brook held Northeastern without a point until the 1:20 mark when an Alwayne Bigby (Toronto, Ontario) lay-up broke a 4:33 scoreless streak for the hosts.

Down 72-66 with just over 40 seconds to play, Northeastern's Smith nailed a 3-pointer to make it a one-possession contest at 72-69, but that was as close as the Huskies would get. After immediately being fouled on the inbounds play, Coley hit both of his free-throw attempts to increase the Seawolves lead to five (74-69). Coley then added two more free throws to put the final tally at 76-69.

Stony Brook's dominance on the boards proved to be a difference in the game. The Seawolves held a 38-26 advantage on the glass and scored 26 second-chance points to Northeastern's eight. The Huskies, however, were impressive shooting the ball. Northeastern connected on 51 percent (26-51) of its attempts from the field, including a season-high 58.8-percent (10-17) performance from beyond the arc. Stony Brook shot 47.5 percent (28-59) on the afternoon, including 38.9 percent (7-18) from 3-point range. The Huskies were just 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) from the free throw line, compared to 13-of-19 (68.4 percent) for the visitors.

Behind two 3-pointers from Smith, Northeastern jumped out to an 11-7 advantage after the first five minutes of play. Stony Brook answered with a 7-0 run to move in front by three points, and then extended its lead to 26-20 on a trey from Bryan Dougher with 7:06 showing. Sparked by a 3-pointer from Lee, Northeastern responded with a 15-2 run, putting the home side ahead, 35-28, with 2:23 remaining.

Northeastern was unable to maintain the momentum, however, as the Seawolves closed the half on a 7-0 run to knot the game at 35-35 heading into the locker room. Down five with 10 seconds on the clock, Stony Brook scored five straight points, including a buzzer-beating jumper to close out the half. Lee, Smith and Ford had nine points apiece for the Huskies at the half, while Coley matched that output for opposition. Northeastern went 7-of-8 (87.5 percent) from behind the arc over the contest's opening 20 minutes, having drained its first seven attempts.

Northeastern will return to CAA action when it welcomes league co-leader George Mason to historic Matthews Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. The game will be the Huskies' final home game of the season. The team's lone senior, Kashief Edwards, will be honored before tip-off. Northeastern and George Mason have split the last 10 head-to-head meetings. ESPN3 will have live coverage of the game. Ticket information is available at GoNU.com/tickets.

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
> Joel Smith made six 3-pointers on the day; he is now tied for seventh on the Northeastern career list with 149
> Jonathan Lee (15 points) scored in double-figures for the 35th time in the last 39 games
> Joel Smith (20 points) has scored in double-figures 16 times this year
> Quincy Ford (14 points) has posted double-figures in 12 of the last 15 games
> Kauri Black (10 points) scored in double-figures for 4th time this year
> Northeastern had four double-figure scorers for the second straight game and the fifth time this season
> Stony Brook's 26 second-chance points were the most surrendered by Northeastern this season