BOSTON – Rich Kelly scored 25 points and Noah Fernandes had 24, but the UMass men’s basketball team fell 82-76 against Northeastern at Matthews Arena on Tuesday.
Fernandes picked up his fourth foul of the game on a blocking call with 4:08 left. Fernandes campaigned that Vito Cubrilo extended his forearm and it should have been a charge, but Cubrilo sank two free throws to push the Huskies’ lead to 73-68.
UMass’ T.J. Weeks Jr. turned the ball over on the next possession, leading to a Nikola Djogo dunk that gave Northeastern a seven-point lead with 3:40 remaining and forced a UMass timeout. It stretched to eight on a Tyreek Scott-Grasyon dunk with 2:28 left.
But the Minutemen didn’t go away. Rich Kelly cut the lead to 78-71 with a free throw at 2:09. He missed the second, but Trent Buttrick grabbed an offensive rebound to give back to Kelly for a 3.
Fernandes then hit a nearly horizontal fadeaway jumper to make it 78-76 with 55.8 seconds remaining. The Minutemen secured the stop they needed, and Weeks Jr. secured the rebound.
Buttrick missed a clean look at a 3 in the left corner with 12.1 second remaining that would have put UMass ahead late.
The Huskies closed the win out with two Djogo free throw sand a Shaquille Walters layup at the buzzer.
It was a frantic ending to a hectic second half.
Scott-Grayson tied the game at 66 with a layup over Fernandes with 7:11 left, but Buttrick reclaimed the UMass lead with two free throws shortly after. Djogo made it 67-66 Northeastern with a 3 with 6:28 remaining.
After UMass exited the half trailing by five, Rich Kelly hit back to back 3s sandwiched around a Fernandes steal to restore the Minutemen’s lead 42-41 1:48 into the second half.
It changed hands a few times, but Fernandes gave the Minutemen a 46-45 advantage with another swipe and score. It sparked a 9-0 run that included a third consecutive 3 by Rich Kelly. It put UMass up 51-45 with 15:14 to go.
Fernandes scored 11 of UMass’ first 14 points and helped the Minutemen open the game with an 11-2 run.
The Huskies clawed back to tie it at 34 on a Jason Strong jumper. Fernandes immediately snatched the lead back with a transition layup, but Quirin Emanga got to the rack and drew a foul, making the layup to tie the game at 36 and a free throw to give the Huskies their first lead 37-36 with 2:04 to halftime.
It stretched to five on a Strong layup in the first half’s final minute, and Northeastern carried a 41-36 advantage into the break.
The Huskies shot 60.9 percent in the first half and made 54.5 percent of their 3s. They were at 30 percent for the season from behind the arc entering the game and 43.4 percent from the field.
WALKER OUT LONG TERM – Forward Dibaji Walker will be out for six months with a leg injury, he announced on Instagram early Tuesday morning.
The senior missed the Minutemen’s comeback win over Harvard and found out “a piece of (his) femur has broken off (his knee) and that’s what had been causing the swelling and pain,” Walker wrote.
Walker will have surgery to alleviate the pain and swelling an avoid future instability.
“I love and appreciate everyone who has been supportive of my journey thus far and those who plan to continue to support me as I recover to play this game that I love and am so passionate about,” he wrote.
Walker, a Columbus, Ohio, native, was averaging 5.4 points and 3.3 rebounds off the bench, scoring in double digits twice. But his real value was the defensive expertise and effort he brought to the floor long with an infectious energy.
“It’s scary to think about what is coming next for me,” Walker wrote. “But I’m most excited about what kind of person this adversity will have molded me into a year from now.”