Box Score  | Â
Game recap (video) Â | Â
Post-game press conference (video)
BOSTON – The Northeastern men's basketball team rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to tie the game, but could not complete the comeback in a 70-66 loss to Richmond on Tuesday in a New Year's Eve matinee at Matthews Arena.
The Huskies (3-10) trailed 51-38 with 13 minutes remaining, before staging a 26-13 run to tie the game at 64 with 2:07 left. After Richmond regained the lead at 68-66, Northeastern had a chance to tie or take the lead in the final 10 seconds, but a runner by junior
Marco Banegas-Flores (Boston, Mass.) was off line and the Spiders (10-4) held on for the win.
Junior
Scott Eatherton (Hershey, Pa.) notched his NCAA-leading 10th double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Huskies. Junior
Demetrius Pollard (Virginia Beach, Va.) joined Eatherton in double-fÂÂigure scoring with 19 points, while Banegas-Flores turned in eight points and a career-high six assists off the bench.
Cedrick Lindsay scored 18 points to pace the Spiders, who trailed only once in the game, 3-0, just 1:20 into the contest. Kendall Anthony added 15 points and Derrick Williams chipped in 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Northeastern controlled the battle of the boards, 31-26, and showed signs of improvement at the foul line, converting 22-of-ÂÂÂ27 attempts (82 percent). Richmond did itself no favors at the charity stripe, going just 7-for-15, but overcame its free-throw struggles to shoot 55 percent from the field.
The Spiders came out hot to start the game, hitting seven of their first 10 shots, including four 3-pointers, to take a 22-12 advantage midway through the opening half.
Northeastern chiseled the deficit to seven, 24-17, after a spot-up triple by Pollard, but the Huskies could get no closer as Richmond eventually regained its double-digit lead at 40-28 courtesy of a Lindsay 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the half.
Trailing by 12 out of the locker room, the Huskies started the second half brightly, fighting for second chances at the offensive end and frustrating Richmond with full-court pressure defensively. With just over 15 minutes to play, sophomore
David Walker (Stow, Ohio) stole the ball at mid-court, then dove to the floor to keep the play alive, before feeding Eatherton under the basket for an and-one layup that made it 45-37.
After a 3-pointer by Deion Taylor pushed the Richmond lead to 51-38, Northeastern again rallied with a 7-0 flurry, capped by an Eatherton layup, to make it a six-point game with just over 10 minutes left.
The Huskies continued to battle and eventually knotted the score at 64-apiece with another 7-0 run, highlighted by a 3-pointer by Pollard and some clutch foul-shooting by Banegas-Flores, who went 6-for-6 at the line in the game.
Lindsay then took over the game for the visitors, hitting back-to-back shots to put the Spiders ahead, 68-64, with 31 ticks showing on the clock. Northeastern closed within a basket on a layup by Banegas-Flores, but the junior was unable to convert on the following possession after a pair of Richmond free-throw misses gave the Huskies one final chance in the closing seconds.
Northeastern will look to open 2014 on a positive note when it travels to Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday, Jan. 4, for a match-up against SEC-foe Vanderbilt. Tip-off is set for 9 p.m. ET.
Game notes
> Eatherton tied a season high with 22 points, his third 22-point performance of the season (Charlotte, Fairfield)
> Eatherton posted his NCAA-leading 10th double-double (22 points, 11 rebounds) over 13 games
> Banegas-Flores set a new career high with six assists, breaking his previous best of four set against UC Riverside on Nov. 21, 2012
> Northeastern out-rebounded its opponent for the ninth time this season
>Â Northeastern's 81.5 percent effort from the free-throw line was its best since a CAA-record 27-for-27 performance on Feb. 27, 2013, in a 90-84 overtime victory at Georgia State
> The Huskies fell to 0-4 this year when allowing their opponent to shoot better than 50-percent
.
