BOSTON – For Justin Rowe, Sunday afternoon’s America East quarterfinal playoff game could be boiled down to one word: Barea.

That’s Barea, as in Northeastern University freshman guard Jose Juan Barea, a mercurial, 5-foot-11 shooting guard with moves that The Flash would envy, unlimited shooting range, fearlessness, and poise that gets only more impressive as the pressure increases.

For most fans, coaches, and members of the University of Maine men’s basketball team, Sunday’s 71-68 loss to the Huskies can be summed with one different word: Frustration.

“Today really summarized the whole year,” said Maine head coach John Giannini. “This team really just wants to win, plays extremely hard, has talent, plays well against good opponents, and has something goes wrong … We just can’t get over the proverbial hump to become the kind of team we want to be.”

The big hump, or frost heave, that caused the 14-16 Black Bears to drive off the road to becoming that team was Barea, whose 3-pointer from the right wing – on the run and off a failed screen play – with 0.8 seconds left capped a Northeastern postseason record 38-point game and left the Bears stunned and visibly pained.

“I’d rather lose by eight than lose by a last-second shot like that. That really hurts. It hurts a lot,” said Rowe, Maine’s 7-foot center. “All you can say about the game is one word: Barea. What more do you need to say?”

“He did what he wanted to do and we just couldn’t stop him today. That’s all you can say,” said forward and fellow senior Clayton Brown, who led the Bears with 14 points.

Barea’s effort was the fourth-highest point total in AE tournament history and broke Reggie Lewis’ 17-year-old school record of 35, scored against Oklahoma in an NCAA Tournament game.

“The last two games I haven’t played my game, but I came out in an attacking mode,” said Barea, who also led the team with four assists. “I don’t know. I was playing good, so I kept shooting.”

That he did, to the tune of 46 percent (12-for-26) from the floor.

Not bad for a guy who wasn’t even voted the league’s rookie of the year despite being named AE’s rookie of the week five times.

“I really wanted that award,” said Barea, hinting as to what may have been some extra motivation.

The shot of the game didn’t happen the way it was supposed to.

“I was supposed to go off the ball screen to the top, but they put two guys out there and I couldn’t go either way,” Barea recalled. “Then I tried to go to the side to try and go by my guy and penetrate, but he was backing up, so I saw I had a shot and shot it.”

Maine’s Eric Dobson let fly a desperation shot from three-quarters court at the buzzer, but it fell short.

Barea’s fireworks show obscured an outstanding effort by junior forward Sylbrin Robinson, who scored 14 and led the Huskies with 14 points and four blocks despite playing with a sore thumb and an elbow that was dislocated a month ago.

“He is absolutely a warrior,” said NU coach Ron Everhart, whose fifth-seeded Huskies (16-14) meet No. 1 Boston University in a 7 p.m. Monday semifinal. “When a football player gets a dislocated elbow, they’re out a standard six weeks. This kid was back in a week and a half.

“He’s been playing with no tendon in his thumb all year. He’s still playing one-armed and can’t even squeeze the ball with two hands, but the effort he gave today… I couldn’t be more proud of anybody or anything. For him to do the things he did today against the front line that Maine has is incredible.”

That front line of Brown, Rowe, and Rickey White combined for 37 points, 18 boards, six blocked shots (all Rowe’s), five assists, and four steals. Rowe wound up his college career with an 11-point, 11-rebound effort while White had 12 points, three boards, three assists and three steals.

Despite shooting 46.7 percent from the floor for the game, holding NU to 34.4 percent shooting in the second half, and committing a below-average 15 turnovers, the Bears streak of AE semifinal appearances was snapped at four years.

Why? Turnovers and missed foul shots. Not in terms of total number, but in timing and degree.

“They’ve forced over 100 more [turnovers] than anyone else in America East, and here we go into the last two minutes with 13,” Giannini said. “That’s a tremendous job, but with the game on the line and the lead, we commit two that break our back.”

The chief one was Jamaar Walker’s theft of a Bears inbounds pass with 47 seconds left that set up a Robinson alley-oop slam dunk off a pass from Barea that gave NU a 68-66 lead with 32 seconds left.

Maine also missed two 1-and-1 (bonus) foul shots and three of four in a 41-second span when NU led 61-60, with 4:44 to play.

Dobson tied the game at 68-all with 12 seconds left on a one-handed running scoop shot off the glass.

The Huskies held UM freshman guard Kevin Reed to five points, eight below his average, and also outrebounded the Bears 40-33.

HUSKIES 71, BLACK BEARS 68

Northeastern (16-14) Maine (14-16)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Wilson 2 9 3 4 8 Reed 1 3 5

Barea 12 26 9 10 38 Jackson 2 6 5

Davis 0 4 0 0 0 Brown 6 15 14

Wright 2 5 3 4 7 White 6 10 12

Robinson 7 10 0 5 14 Rowe 5 7 11

Keys 0 2 0 0 0 Dobson 2 8 2 6

Walker 2 3 0 3 4 Hadjisatirov 3 7

Dunn 0 0 0 0 0 Petkus 1 2 2 5

Oliynyk 0 1 0 0 0 Hill 1 1 3

Totals 25 60 15 26 71 27 57 16 68

3-pt. goals ? Northeastern (6-18): Barea 5-12, Wilson 1-4, Davis 0-2; Maine (5-12): Brown 1-3, Hadjisatirov 1-2, Hill 1-1, Petkus 1-2, Reed 1-3, Jackson 0-1

Halftime: Northeastern 39-36

Attendance: 1,558