Box Score
WATCH: Game highlights

BOSTON — Despite holding a 10-point lead early in the second half, the Northeastern men's basketball team lost to visiting Georgia State, 78-73, in a back and fourth affair at historic Matthews Arena on Wednesday night. After falling victim to a stunning 24-2 Panthers run in the middle of the second half, the CAA-leading Huskies mounted a thrilling comeback that fell just short. The loss snapped a program-best 8-0 start in CAA play.

Northeastern raced to its highest-scoring first half of the season to take a 46-39 lead at the break. The Huskies pushed the lead to 10 just over two minutes into the second half but then went ice cold. NU went nearly 11 minutes without a field goal, surrendering a 26-4 run that allowed the visiting Panthers to take a 68-56 lead with 7:00 to play. The Huskies responded, twice cutting the lead to one, but could not complete the comeback.

Sophomore Reggie Spencer (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) led the Huskies (13-8, 8-1 CAA) with 17 points and nine rebounds. Senior co-captains Joel Smith (Leander, Texas) and Jonathan Lee (Flint, Mich.) posted 16 and 14 points, respectively, while sophomore Demetrius Pollard (Virginia Beach, Va.) tallied 15 points off the bench. Freshman David Walker (Stow, Ohio) registered eight points to go along with five assists and sophomore Quincy Ford (St. Petersburg, Fla.) rounded out the NU offensive output with three points.

Georgia State (11-12, 6-4 CAA) was carried by freshman standout R.J. Hunter. The son of Panthers head coach Ron Hunter, the 6-5 guard scored a career-high 27 points behind a game-high five 3-pointers. Sophomore Devonta White had 13 points, including four clutch free throws late in the game.

A 46-39 contest at halftime, both sides traded 3-pointers out of the break before three straight Spencer points pushed the NU lead to 10 at 52-42. Georgia State responded with an empathic 12-0 run however, grabbing control of the contest and taking its first lead of the game on Hunter's third trey of the night with 13:55 left.

After a pair of Lee free throws ended the Panthers surge to square the game at 54-54, Hunter poured in another trey and White followed with a lay-up that forced an NU timeout with 10:00 showing and the score 59-54. The stop in play didn't slow the hot-handed Hunter. The freshman drained two more shots, the second from behind the arc, to give his team a 10-point lead at 64-54.

Following another GSU bucket, Spencer added a pair of free throws for the Huskies with 7:36 remaining that sparked a 9-2 NU run. Pollard connected from long range and Smith hit a layup during the run. Capping the spurt with two more free throws, Spencer brought the home side within five at 68-63 with 4:51 to go.

A GSU jumper made it 70-63, but NU continued its charge. Smith collected a steal and went the distance for a lay-in. Pollard followed with a layup and a tough runner in the lane to narrow the gap to just one, 70-69, with 2:22 to play. Hunter, though, continued his clutch play, hitting a basket to settle the visitors.

On the ensuing play, Hunter fouled Smith on a long-range attempt. But Smith, the CAA's most reliable free-throw shooter, made just one of three, to make it a 72-70 game with 1:32 to play. Just over a minute later, with the score the same, Lee attempted a game-tying shot in the paint, but Hunter came up with the block.

With 18 seconds remaining, NU sent the Panthers' White to the free throw line, where he hit both attempts to increase the advantage to four. NU pushed the ball up the floor and Lee nailed a deep 3-pointer to again close the gap to just one, 74-73, with 12 ticks remaining.

Fouled yet again, White added two more free throws on the ensuing possession to make it 76-73 with 10 seconds left. NU managed one final look to tie the game, but Lee's contested 3-pointer fell short. GSU's Rashaad Richardson collected the rebound and was fouled as the buzzer sounded. He was awarded the free throws, making both, to set the final score at 78-73.

In the first half, NU jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but the Panthers responded with four straight points to pull within one.

Still leading by one, 10-9, NU's Spencer scored four straight points to spark a 9-3 run to push the lead to seven, 19-12, with 11:11 to play.

After a 5-0 GSU run again closed the gap, NU raced to a 10-2 surge that featured a Pollard-to-Walker highlight-reel alley-op dunk in transition. Ford capped the run with his only bucket of the game, a 3-pointer with 7:41 to play, that gave the home team a 29-19 lead. After a Panthers basket, Pollard dialed in from long range to give NU its largest lead of the game, 32-21, with 6:31 showing on the clock.

In a game of runs, though, Georgia State responded with seven straight points to claw to within four, 32-28, with just over five minutes left in the first half.

NU then rattled off an 8-3 spurt to push the advantage to nine. Pollard converted a tip-in and Spencer followed with a layup. After a Hunter three, Smith hit a three and was fouled, converting the free throw for the rare four-point play, to make it 40-31 at the 3:29 mark.

Hunter, though, scored seven of the game's next nine points to cut the NU lead to four, 42-38, with just over a minute remaining in the half. Pollard answered for the Huskies, again dialing in from deep, and Markus Crider and Lee each went one-for-two at the line to send the teams to the locker room with the Huskies leading, 46-39.

Paced by Smith with 11, Northeastern's 46-point output was its highest first-half total this season. Four of the five NU starters registered a 3-pointer over the first 20 minutes as the Huskies combined to shoot 73 percent (8-11) from beyond the arc. Hunter led all first-half performers with 12 points for the visitors.

For the game, Northeastern shot 53 percent (26-49), including 48 percent (11-23) from 3-point range. The Huskies shot 71 percent (10-14) from the line. Georgia State shot 51 percent (28-55) from the floor, 42 percent (11-26) from beyond the arc, and 79 percent (11-14) from the charity stripe. The Panthers out-rebounded the Huskies, 29-24.

Northeastern will play the final game of a four-game home stand on Saturday night, when it welcomes Drexel to historic Matthews Arena for a 6 p.m. tip. Comcast SportsNet will broadcast the game throughout the East Coast. The Huskies defeated the Dragons earlier this season, 63-58, in a thrilling overtime affair in Philadelphia on Jan. 8. Tickets are available at GoNU.com/tickets and, for NU students, on myNEU.

Game notes
> Northeastern's 8-0 CAA start was the program's best since joining the conference in 2005; the conference start was the fourth-best all-time in program history and the best since 1986-87 (9-0 start in ECAC North)
> NU's eight-game winning streak was its longest since an 11-game streak in 2009-10
> The 8-1 mark in January is the third time NU has posted a one-loss January under head coach Bill Coen (2008-09: 9-1; 2009-10: 9-1)
> NU has tallied 15 or more assists in eight of nine CAA games
> NU's 19 assists is the second-highest single-game total of the season
> NU set a season high with 11 made 3-pointers
> Demetrius Pollard tied a career high with three made 3-pointers
> Joel Smith scored in double figures for the sixth straight game, the 17th time this season, and the 58th time in his career
> NU scored more points off turnovers than its opponent for the eighth time in nine CAA games
> Northeastern's 46-point output was its highest first-half total this season