Dec. 3, 2011
BOSTON, MA--Kent Bazemore scored 21, Chris Cooper added 17 and 12 rebounds and Nick Wright added 13 points to lead the Monarchs (5-3/1-0) to a 69-59 Colonial Athletic Association win over Northeastern (3-3/0-1) Saturday afternoon at the historic Matthews Arena.The double-double was Cooper's fifth of the year.
ODU to a 34-31 lead at halftime on a three-pointer by Iliadis from Bazemore as time ran out. Bazemore led ODU with 11 halftime points, while Chris Cooper had seven and Iliadis and Nick Wrighteach had five points.
In the second half, the Monarchs then gradually built a 10-point lead as Dimitri Batten hit a trey to put ODU up 45-40 and after two Nick Wright free throws, the Monarchs were leading, 50-40 with 10:36 left.
The Huskies cut it to five, 57-52 after a layup by Quincy Ford with 4:56 left, but ODU went on a 10-1 run thanks in part from six points by Chris Cooper on two layups and two free throws for a 67-53 lead with 2:51 left in the game.
ODU dominated the boards, 35-30 as both Cooper with 12 and Bazemore with eight had more rebounds than the top Huskie player, Reggie Spencer with seven.
On defense, ODU came up with 15 steals led by Dimitri Batten with a career high five, followed byCAA Defensive Player of the Year Bazemore with four and Trian Iliadis with three.
ODU hit .794 (27-34) from the free throw line led by Bazemore's 11-for-13, Wright's eight -for-nineand Cooper's five-for-six. ODU forced the Huskies into 22 turnovers. The Monarchs were .358 (19-53)from the floor, while Northeastern was .429 (21-49).
Iliadis playing point for the second straight game dished out five assists, while Bazemore handed outthree.
Quincy Ford led Northeaster with 16 points, followed by Reggie Spencer with 12 and Jonathan Lee with11 points. Kauri Black dished out four assists and Joel Smith had a team high three steals.
The Monarchs finished the week 2-0 which includes the victory over East Carolina.Chris Cooper led with a 14.5 points per game average along with 11.5 rebounds pergame. Kent Bazemore averaged 13.0 points per game followed by Nick Wright's12.5 and Dimitri Batten at 12.0. Senior Trian Iliadis averaged 5.0 assists per game.
Bazemore now has 976 career points and 200 career steals. He is the fourth Monarchto have 200 or more career steals, joining Frank Smith ('88) 295, Brandon Johnson('08) with 238 and Drew Williamson ('07) with 215.
Matthews Arena was built in 1910 and was the original home of both the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins.
ODU returns to New England next Friday night when they play Fairfield in Springfield, MA at 9 pm.