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BOSTON — Despite a 52-point second half, the Northeastern men's basketball team was unable to overcome William & Mary's torrid shooting performance in an 82-70 loss to the Tribe in CAA action Saturday at Matthews Arena.
The Tribe (15-8, 7-3 CAA) shot 61-percent (17-of-28) in the first half to jump out to a commanding 45-18 lead at the break. Northeastern (8-17, 5-6 CAA) made a late 21-2 run to cut the deficit to 67-57 with 2:30 to play, but the Tribe managed to stem the comeback and hold on for the 12-point win.
Junior
Demetrius Pollard (Virginia Beach, Va.) paced four Huskies in double-figure scoring with 13 points, while freshman
T.J. Williams (Pflugerville, Texas) added 12 points, four rebounds and six assists. Redshirt junior
Scott Eatherton (Hershey, Pa.) chipped in 11 points, all in the first half, and redshirt senior
Chris Avenant (Sacramento, Calif.) provided a spark off the bench with a career-high 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
William & Mary's Marcus Thornton, the leading scorer in the CAA, poured in a game-high 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting to go along with five assists. Tim Rusthoven (13 points), Omar Prewitt (13) and Brandon Britt (12) joined Thornton in double-figures as the Tribe earned their first-ever win at Matthews Arena (1-6).
The Huskies out-rebounded the Tribe, 34-32, and held a 46-32 advantage in points in the paint. Northeastern scored a season-high 52 points on 54-percent shooting in the second half, but it was not enough to overcome William & Mary's sizzling start. The Tribe shot 55-percent (26-of-47) for the game and knocked down 23-of-27 free throws (85-percent), while the Huskies finished with a 41-percent clip from the field (26-of-63) and a 60-percent (12-of-20) performance at the charity stripe.
The Tribe came out of the gates on fire, knocking down their first four shots to take an 8-0 lead just two minutes into the game.
A layup by Eatherton put the Huskies on the board at the 17:39 mark, but the Tribe continued to shoot the lights out, racing out to a 25-9 advantage at the midway point of the first half after a dunk by Kyle Gaillard.
The visitors extended their lead to as many as 29 in the opening stanza when Britt knocked down a pair of free throws to give William & Mary a 40-11 cushion with 4:15 to play in the frame.
Thornton finished the half with 17 points after connecting on a 3-pointer with 54 seconds remaining to send the Tribe into the locker room with a seemingly-insurmountable 45-18 lead. William & Mary shot 61-percent in the opening 20 minutes (17-of-28), compared to a 23-percent clip (6-for-26) for the Huskies.
Things did not get any better for Northeastern to start the second half as the Tribe pushed their lead to 60-27 at the 13-minute mark after another Gaillard slam.
Despite a sizable deficit, the Huskies rallied behind a second-team unit composed of Avenant, Williams, Pollard, redshirt freshman
Kwesi Abakah (Suwanee, Ga.) and sophomore
Derrico Peck (Woodstock, Ga.) to get back in the game.
A 3-pointer by Pollard capped a 14-2 run to cut the William & Mary lead to 21, 65-44, with seven minutes to play. After a pair of William & Mary free throws, the Huskies whittled the score to 67-50 following a layup and free throw from Williams and a triple from the top of the key from Avenant. The Huskies then got a stop and turned defense into offense when Williams fed Pollard for a layup in transition to make it 67-52 with 3:52 to play.
Northeastern extended its run to 19-2 when Avenant nailed a 3-pointer from the left side to bring the Huskies within striking distance at 67-55 with 3:25 showing on the clock. The hosts got another stop when William & Mary was whistled for a shot clock violation, and again Northeastern made the Tribe pay when Avenant tipped in an alley-oop pass from Williams to reduce the deficit to 10 with 2:30 left.
Northeastern would get no closer, however, as the Tribe knocked down their free throws in the closing minutes to earn the 82-70 win.
The Huskies return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at UNCW at 7 p.m. Northeastern defeated the Seahawks, 79-68, in overtime on Jan. 8 at Matthews Arena.
Game notes
> The 52-point second half is Northeastern's highest-scoring half of the season and the highest scoring since a 54-point second half on Jan. 3, 2013, in an 84-74 victory at George Mason
>
T.J. Williams tied his career high with 12 points and dished a career-best six assists
>
Chris Avenant set a new career high with 10 points; his previous high was five
>
Derrico Peck tied a career high with eight points
>
Kwesi Abakah grabbed a career-high three rebounds
> William & Mary defeated Northeastern for the first time in two years and for the first time ever in Boston (1-6); NU leads the overall series, 8-7
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