Boston, Mass.?Manny Adako scored 18 points, including a key layup with 47 seconds left, as Northeastern defeated Georgia State, 64-62, in a Colonial Athletic Association game Saturday afternoon at Matthews Arena in Boston, Mass. Leonard Mendez, who led the Panthers (4-9, 1-2 CAA) with 21 points, had two shots to win the game in the final seconds, but one game after the Georgia State junior beat George Mason with a buzzer-beating shot, his three-point attempts were just off the mark.
In a second half that featured five lead changes and five ties, Adako's bucket with the shot clock about to expire gave the Huskies (5-8, 1-2 CAA) a four-point lead at 62-58 with 47 seconds left. Kevin Lott's scored a layup on a feed from Rashad Chase to bring the Panthers within two with 34 seconds to play, but Matt Janning answered with a pair of free throws.
Freshman D.J. Jones made a driving layup for Georgia State with 20 seconds left, and then the Panthers forced a turnover to regain possession with 14 seconds on the clock, down by two. Mendez got off a three-point shot from the top of the key. When the shot missed, Lott managed to tip the rebound back to Mendez, who fired again but missed at the buzzer.
“We executed the play well and got a good look for Leonard Mendez, which is what you want in that situation,” said Georgia State head coach Rod Barnes.
The Panthers held Janning, the reigning CAA Rookie of the Year and Player of the Week, to 12 points and 0-for-5 on three-pointers, but the Huskies made up for it on the inside. Adako, a 6-8 sophomore from Decatur, Ga., who attended Towers High School, connected on eight of 11 attempts from the field, while center Nkem Ojougbough went 8-for-8 from the free throw line and scored 14 points.
“They did a good job of pounding the ball inside on us, and our post players did not respond,” said Barnes.
The Panthers connected on 15 of 18 free throws (83 percent) and seven of 16 three-pointers and committed just 11 turnovers but were outrebounded by Northeastern, 30-22.
Freshman Jihad Ali recorded his first double-figure scoring effort with 12 points, all in the first half, as the Panthers built a 33-25 lead at the intermission. State's advantage grew to nine early in the second half before the Huskies began to chip away.
After tying the score twice, Northeastern took its first lead at 46-45 on a pair of free throws by Ojougbough with 11 minutes to go. From there, neither team led by more than three until Adako's layup with 47 seconds left.
Georgia State plays its second straight road game at VCU Thursday before returning home to host William & Mary next Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Sports Arena.
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