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BOSTON — Senior Joel Smith (Leander, Texas) tied a career high with 29 points and freshman David Walker (Stow, Ohio) recorded a career-best 17 points and five assists to lead the Northeastern men's basketball team over William & Mary in a wild 95-91 double-overtime thriller on a memorable Wednesday night at historic Matthews Arena. The Huskies now are 7-0 in Colonial Athletic Association play for the first time ever and sit alone in first place in the conference standings.

The Huskies (12-7, 7-0 CAA) raced out to a 15-point halftime advantage and led by as many as 16 points early in the second half, but the Tribe stormed back behind 73-percent shooting in the second half. After a tightly-contested first overtime ended in a deadlock, the battle-tested Huskies exerted their will in the second overtime. NU grabbed a four-point lead less than halfway through the extra period and led by eight in the waning moments before two W&M baskets set the final margin. Smith scored 11 of NU's 16 points in the final overtime.

Senior Jonathan Lee (Flint, Mich.) scored 19 points, including a crucial 3-pointer late in the second overtime to help give NU the home win. Zach Stahl (Chanhassen, Minn.) and Quincy Ford (St. Petersburg, Fla.) both reached double-digits as well, with 11 and 10 points respectively. Reggie Spencer (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) added five points, while Dinko Marshavelski (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) and Demetrius Pollard (Virginia Beach, Va.) chipped in two apiece, as every Husky who played reached the scoring column.

Despite holding a 14-point lead with 10 minutes remaining, the Huskies fell victim to a scintillating second-half shooting performance by William & Mary (7-11, 1-6 CAA). The Tribe tallied a resounding 73.1 field goal percentage (19-26) over the final 20 minutes of regulation after scoring just 19 points in the first half. Tim Rusthoven paced the visitors with 25 points and 11 rebounds, while Marcus Thornton added 23 points behind five 3-pointers.

Leading by 15 at the break, 34-19, the Huskies maintained a double-digit lead over the visitors until a 3-pointer by Kyle Gaillard brought the Tribe within nine and continued an emphatic 11-0 W&M run. A Thornton three capped the run with 6:58 to go, cutting the once sizable lead to just three points, 55-52.

Northeastern maintained at least a three-point lead for more than four minutes, but a Thornton layup cut the lead to just one, 63-62, with 2:31 remaining in regulation. A traditional three-point play by Stahl pushed the lead back to four, but Rusthoven quickly responded with two free throws to bring the visitors within two, 66-64, with 1:48 to go.

A Smith lay-in appeared to give NU some breathing room with under a minute to play, but the Tribe's Rusthoven responded once again with a bucket with 42 seconds remaining. Thornton then came up with a critical steal and converted the opportunity with an assist to a breaking Brandon Britt in transition to knot the contest for the first time since the opening minutes. A defensive stand by W&M on the final play in regulation sent the game to overtime with the score tied, 68-68.

William & Mary struck first in overtime with two free throws from Britt. It marked the first time NU had trailed in more than 142 minutes of play, dating back to the first half of the win at Towson on Jan. 12. Lee answered for the Huskies with a pair of free throws to tie it at 72 with 3:19 left in the period.

A W&M basket by Gaillard made it 74-72, but the freshman Walker added to his career performance with a jumper from the top of the key to again tie the game.

After two Tribe free throws, an old-fashioned three-point play from Smith put the Huskies back in front, 77-76, with 1:54 to play. Ford added to the lead with two free throws, but W&M's Thornton again came up big with a 3-pointer with 39 seconds to go, silencing an active NU crowd and squaring the contest at 79-79 to extend the game to another overtime period.

Rusthoven opened the second overtime with a free throw for his 25th and final point of the night. At the other end of the floor, however, The Tribe's leading scorer picked up a costly fifth foul on a Smith drive. NU capitalized on the advantage.

Smith rattled off the Huskies' first nine points of the final overtime, hitting two free throws, a layup, a 3-pointer and another layup, to give NU an 88-85 lead with 1:46 to go.

After NU's Ford blocked a Tom Schalk lay-up attempt, Lee, a preseason All-CAA first team selection, hit a crucial 3-pointer from the left corner to give NU a six-point lead, 91-85, with just 47 seconds remaining.

In a fitting end to his career night, Walker grabbed a defensive rebound and, off an assist from Smith, finished the play with a thunderous dunk in transition that proved to be all the points NU would need.

Thornton added a 3-pointer for the Tribe. Smith followed with two free throws for the home side, and Rum ended the night with a triple to set the final score at 95-91 in favor of Northeastern.

In the first half, Walker opened the game with a layup in transition following the first of 10 first-half turnovers by William & Mary. Lee added a layup for NU before two quick Tribe baskets evened the score. The Huskies then responded with a 9-0 run to take a 13-4 lead just six minutes into the game. Spencer, Smith and Lee each hit layups before Walker capped the run with a 3-pointer.

The Tribe responded with a 9-4 run, closing the game to 17-13 with just under 10 minutes to go in the half, before another Walker 3-pointer halted the momentum and sparked another NU surge.

Following Walker's three, Smith hit a jumper, Stahl drained two free throws, Pollard and Ford each hit layups, and Lee collected a steal and dunked in transition to close a dominating 13-2 run that opened up a game-high 15-point lead for NU.

W&M sandwiched a Gaillard tip-in and a Rusthoven jumper around two free throws from Stahl to cut the NU lead to 32-19 with 15 seconds remaining in the half. Lee, though, added some last-second heroics for NU, hitting a jumper at the buzzer to send the Huskies to the locker room with a 34-19 advantage. The Tribe's 19 first-half points were the fewest allowed by NU in any half this season.

For the game, Northeastern shot 51 percent (34-67) from the floor, including 46 percent (6-13) from 3-point range. The Huskies were impressive at the free throw line, shooting 91 percent (21-23). Four Huskies were perfect from the charity stripe—Ford (6-6), Smith (5-5), Stahl (5-5) and Spencer (1-1). William & Mary shot 53 percent (34-64) from the floor, 40 percent (10-25) from long range, and 68 percent (13-19) from the line. The Tribe out-rebounded the Huskies, 36-32.

The Huskies will be back in action on Sunday, when they host George Mason at historic Matthews Arena at 8 p.m. The game will be televised throughout the East Coast on Comcast SportsNet New England, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, Charter Sports Southeast and the Comcast Network (Philadelphia). The Huskies defeated the Patriots, 84-74, on Jan. 3 in Fairfax. Sunday's game also is the annual “Suits & Sneakers” game to support the Coaches vs. Cancer program that helps raise awareness about cancer and the importance that nutrition and physical activity play in reducing one's risk of the disease. Northeastern coach Bill Coen will donate $1 to the American Cancer Society for every Northeastern student in attendance at Sunday's game.

Game notes
> Northeastern is 7-0 in CAA play for the first time in program history (NU joined the CAA in 2005); the 7-0 league start is the Huskies' best since opening America East (then known as ECAC North) play at 9-0 in 1986-87
> Until W&M took the lead to open the first overtime, Northeastern had not trailed in more than 142 minutes of play, dating back to the first half of the win over Towson on Jan. 12
> This was NU's first double overtime game since defeating Hofstra, 74-71, on March 6, 2010, in the CAA tournament
> Joel Smith tied a career high with 29 points
> David Walker set a new career high with 17 points
> Jonathan Lee played the entire 50 minutes
> Northeastern set new season highs for points (95), field goals made (34), free throw percentage (91.3), and assists (21)
> William & Mary's 19 first-half points were the fewest in a half by an NU opponent this season; the Tribe's 91 points were the most by an NU opponent this season
> Northeastern improved to 2-0 in overtime games this season
> NU has tallied at least 15 assists in six of seven conference games this season
> Smith scored in double figures for the fourth straight game and the 15th time this season
> Ford scored in double figures for the fifth straight game and the 15th time this season
> Lee scored in double figures for the eighth time in 10 games played this season