Huskies drive to league win 5

Double-double by Adako the key

Matt Janning dribbled the basketball during the waning seconds of Northeastern's 68-53 victory over Towson yesterday before a Matthews Arena crowd of 2,078. When the horn sounded, Janning held his right hand aloft, his fingers fanned out, and walked toward the Huskies' bench as though he were searching for someone to high-five.

Janning's gesture was symbolic. The junior guard was merely pointing out the number of Colonial Athletic Association wins the Huskies have compiled this season.

"Five and 0, that's what it meant," said Janning, after NU improved to 10-5, 5-0 to remain tied atop the league standings with George Mason (12-3, 5-0), a 61-53 winner yesterday over Old Dominion. "We knew that's what we wanted to do coming in. We knew it was going to be a tough stretch for us to play four [conference] games in eight days. But to start off the conference season by getting that fifth win was big."

Yesterday, no one loomed larger for Northeastern than Manny Adako, a 6-foot-8-inch junior power forward who had a season-high 24 points on 12-for-15 shooting and a career-high 12 boards to help NU outrebound Towson, 37-20.

"It's good [to be 5-0 in conference], and it's a test because we don't want to get comfortable or content with it," said Adako, pointing to the fact Northeastern will hit the road for its next two league games, against Delaware Thursday and Hofstra Saturday, then return home Jan. 21 to play George Mason. "It's good because it's kind of showing that work is paying off a little bit."

"Manny, as you know, had a good freshman year, and an even better sophomore year, and now he's a junior and he kind of knows what it's all about," said NU coach Bill Coen, whose team won its first five CAA games by holding opponents to no more than 55 points and no better than 40 percent shooting. "At critical times today he was able to step up and get us quality shots and deliver when we got him the basketball.

"If we're going to be a good basketball team, we're going to need Manny to give us a good presence in the post."

Adako, who has shot 74.5 percent (38 of 51) in the last five games, followed his triumphant homecoming to Atlanta in a 68-54 win over Georgia State last Wednesday night by recording the second double-double of his career yesterday.

Towson (7-10, 2-3) got a game-high 25 points from junior guard Josh Thornton, a Georgetown transfer who converted 8 of 14 field goals, 6 of 10 from behind the arc.

"Manny stepped up and they left him open," said Janning, who chipped in 16 points, including 8 for 8 from the foul line, despite going 4 for 15 from the field. "The basket was as big as an ocean for him and he made everything. It's just nice when somebody has an off night, we've got guys on this team who will step up."

In the first half, Adako was happy to oblige as he helped the Huskies take a 35-17 halftime lead. He nearly recorded a double-double in the first half with 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting (NU went 9 for 20 overall) and eight rebounds as he helped the defensive-minded Huskies seize a 29-8 lead on a baseline fade.

So, did the basket seem to be "as big as an ocean," as Janning had said?

"I don't know," Adako smiled. "I was just open and I took the shots and they just happened to fall."

The Tigers, meanwhile, struggled against NU's defense, which Towson coach Pat Kennedy lauded as one of the best his team had faced all season, especially after Junior Hairston, Towson's leading scorer (13.9 points per game) was held scoreless (0 for 9).

Jarrel Smith (17 points) pulled Towson within 48-36 with 9:39 left, but Adako scored 8 points on an assortment of low-post moves and perimeter jumpers for a 62-48 lead. Smith cut NU's lead to 11 (64-53) with a late 3-pointer, but that was as close as Towson would get.

"It could be anybody on any given night," Adako said. "The next game it could be Matt Smith or it could be Eugene [Spates]. We're just here to win. We've been here long enough and we know how it feels to lose, so we don't care how it gets done, we just want to handle business."

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.