EARLY SURGE LEADS HUSKIES BY JMU IN MEN'S BASKETBALL

Saturday, January 2

Boston, Mass.

4:00 p.m.

James Madison University

6-6, 0-2CAA

Northeastern

6-7, 1-1CAA

James Madison

Northeastern

1/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BOSTON, Mass., Jan. 2, 2010 - Chaisson Allen and Matt Janning combined for 28 first-half point as Northeastern built a big early lead and went on to defeat James Madison 73-61 in men's Colonial Athletic Association basketball Saturday.

Allen during the opening half had 16 points, including 12 on three-point field goals. Janning added 12 first-half points as the host Huskies took a 47-28 lead behind a 60 percent shooting effort that included eight field goals from three-point range.

Allen and Janning played sparingly after halftime, and both finished with 16 points as Northeastern won its fourth straight game and improved to 6-7 overall and to 1-1 in the CAA. Allen didn't attempt a shot during nine second-half minutes, and Janning hit on both of his final-half field goal attempts in 10 minutes.

JMU with the loss fell to 0-2 in the CAA and to 6-6 overall.

Northeastern took a 9-0 lead after less than two minutes, getting early field goals from four players. The lead reached 19-7 by the 11:35 mark of the first half with Allen having 11 points, including a pair of three-pointers, by that time. The Huskies led 39-19 with 5:59 left in the half and 45-25 at the 1:27 mark.

Northeastern during the initial half hit on 18 of 30 shots overall and connected on eight of 16 three-point attempts. The Huskies also had a 19-10 first-half rebounding edge.

Allen hit on six of seven first-half shots, including four of five attempts from three-point range. Janning was five-of-nine shooting with a pair of three-pointers during the opening half.

JMU got a three-point field goal from sophomore forward Julius Wells (Toledo, Ohio/Libbey) on the initial possession of the final half to pull to within 47-31, and the margin thereafter was never more than 20 points (53-33 with 16:40 to play) and never fewer than 14 until JMU freshman guard Alioune Diouf (Powder Springs, Ga./McEachern) scored the game's final field goal with 1:12 to play.

Reserve guard Baptiste Bataille with 11 points and five assists was Northeastern's third-double-figure scorer. The Huskies got points from nine players, shot 51.8 percent (29-56) overall and 47.6 percent (10-21) from three-point range, and out-rebounded JMU 37-24.

Northeastern is the first team to shoot better than 50 percent from the field against JMU this season. The previous best was Ohio State's 45.5 percent effort in the Dukes' opener, and no JMU opponent had shot better than 43.6 percent since.

Wells led JMU with 18 points, including a four-of-six effort from three-point range, while playing 40 minutes for the second straight game. He was coming off a 29-point effort Tuesday at Stanford.

Senior guard Pierre Curtis (Denver, Colo./East) added 11 points, all during the last half, and freshman forward Trevon Flores (Harvey, La./Helen Cox) 10 points for JMU. The Dukes shot 40.7 percent overall and (22-54) and 50.0 percent (7-14) from three-point range. They matched their season low of eight turnovers.

JMU returns home Monday (Jan. 4) for a 7 p.m. CAA game against Delaware.

JMU Notes: Pierre Curtis made his 103rd career start, one off Steve Stielper's (1976-80) JM