Wednesday, November 21
Anchorage, Ak
8:30 pm
UC Riverside
52
vs
61
Northeastern
Photo by: Gabriel L. Acosta
Men's Basketball Can't Complete Comeback As Northeastern Wins Game One In Alaska, 61-52
11/21/2012 8:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Anchorage, AK—The 2012 CARRS/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout got underway Wednesday evening, and the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team nearly pulled off a historic comeback. Trailing by 21 points early in the second half, UCR whittled the Huskies' lead down to five with 1:04 to go, but could get no closer as Northeastern picked up the 61-52 win. (Box Score)
Had the Highlanders pulled off the comeback, it would have been the largest deficit overcome in the Division I history of the program breaking the mark set on Dec. 4, 2009 against San Diego.
UCR knew it would have its hands full defensively with three players in particular as guard Joel Smith (17.0 ppg), swing man Quincey Ford (15.0) and forward Reggie Spencer (14.7) accounted for 46.7 of the Huskies's 62.3 points per game heading into the tournament.
The Highlanders had a 9-7 edge with 5:40 gone in the first half, but the Huskies scored the next dozen in a row to take a 10-point lead at 19-9. Northeastern's trio accounted for seven of the 12 points.
Lucas Devenny's layup ended the run, but Smith drained a three-pointer on the Huskies' subsequent possession to push the lead back into double figures.
The Highlanders trailed by 11, 31-20 with 1:50 remaining in the period, but Northeastern scored the final seven points of the period to take an 18-point advantage into the locker room.
UCR held Spencer scoreless in the first half, but Smith and Ford combined for 19 points and Marco Benegas-Flores scored a career-high nine points in the first 20 minutes of play to help the Huskies build their lead.
Northeastern scored four of the first five points of the second half to build their largest lead at 21, 42-21. The Highlanders started clamping down on the defensive end of the floor, however, slowly chipping away at the lead. Chris Patton got the offense jump started scoring on back-to-back possessions. Seven minutes later, a fastbreak bucket by Tajai Johnson reduced the advantage to nine, 47-38, and a Josh Fox basket with seven minutes remaining made it an eight-point game, 50-42.
It was still an eight-point Northeaster lead following a Fox lay up with just under four minutes to go, and following a missed Huskies shot, Lucas Devenny scored on a fast break basket of his own to cut the lead to six, 55-49. The Highlanders forced turnovers on each of the next two NU possessions, but couldn't scored on the other end. After a pair of Smith free throws, Chris Harriel drained a three from NBA range to make it a five-point lead, 57-52, but that was as close as UCR would get, as Northeastern scored the final four points of the ballgame.
UC Riverside held Banegas-Flores scoreless in the second period, while Smith scored just four after the break and Ford added two. Fox led UCR with 14 on the night.
The Highlanders have Thanksgiving off before returning to the court on Friday for a 2 pm PT tip against the loser of the Belmont-Anchorage game later this evening.
Had the Highlanders pulled off the comeback, it would have been the largest deficit overcome in the Division I history of the program breaking the mark set on Dec. 4, 2009 against San Diego.
UCR knew it would have its hands full defensively with three players in particular as guard Joel Smith (17.0 ppg), swing man Quincey Ford (15.0) and forward Reggie Spencer (14.7) accounted for 46.7 of the Huskies's 62.3 points per game heading into the tournament.
The Highlanders had a 9-7 edge with 5:40 gone in the first half, but the Huskies scored the next dozen in a row to take a 10-point lead at 19-9. Northeastern's trio accounted for seven of the 12 points.
Lucas Devenny's layup ended the run, but Smith drained a three-pointer on the Huskies' subsequent possession to push the lead back into double figures.
The Highlanders trailed by 11, 31-20 with 1:50 remaining in the period, but Northeastern scored the final seven points of the period to take an 18-point advantage into the locker room.
UCR held Spencer scoreless in the first half, but Smith and Ford combined for 19 points and Marco Benegas-Flores scored a career-high nine points in the first 20 minutes of play to help the Huskies build their lead.
Northeastern scored four of the first five points of the second half to build their largest lead at 21, 42-21. The Highlanders started clamping down on the defensive end of the floor, however, slowly chipping away at the lead. Chris Patton got the offense jump started scoring on back-to-back possessions. Seven minutes later, a fastbreak bucket by Tajai Johnson reduced the advantage to nine, 47-38, and a Josh Fox basket with seven minutes remaining made it an eight-point game, 50-42.
It was still an eight-point Northeaster lead following a Fox lay up with just under four minutes to go, and following a missed Huskies shot, Lucas Devenny scored on a fast break basket of his own to cut the lead to six, 55-49. The Highlanders forced turnovers on each of the next two NU possessions, but couldn't scored on the other end. After a pair of Smith free throws, Chris Harriel drained a three from NBA range to make it a five-point lead, 57-52, but that was as close as UCR would get, as Northeastern scored the final four points of the ballgame.
UC Riverside held Banegas-Flores scoreless in the second period, while Smith scored just four after the break and Ford added two. Fox led UCR with 14 on the night.
The Highlanders have Thanksgiving off before returning to the court on Friday for a 2 pm PT tip against the loser of the Belmont-Anchorage game later this evening.
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