By Max Lederman
Last week was a historic one for the Northeastern men’s basketball team, as they beat both Hartford and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County to guarantee their second-straight winning season. The last time the Huskies had back-to-back winning campaigns was the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons.
In Saturday’s home win over the UMBC Retrievers (7-16, 4-10 AE), junior guard Marcus Barnes led the way with 22 points, ending a seven game slump in which he shot just 32.8 percent from the floor and averaged 10 points per game.
While the Huskies arguably should have beaten the Retrievers by more than the 81-78 final, the victory did give them their 10th America East win, improving their record to 10-4 in conference play and 16-9 overall.
The 10 wins are the most the Huskies have had since the 1994-95 season.
“It’s a good accomplishment for us, but since I came here, my number one goal has been to reach the NCAA tournament,” said coach Ron Everhart. “And these players are the ones that deserve all the credit.”
NU had five players score in double figures, largely due to sophomore point guard Jose Juan Barea who had a dozen points and was one assist shy of tying the school record with a career-high 14 helpers.
“Jose was tremendous throughout,” Everhart said. “When a player has 14 assists it says a lot about the character of that guy.”
Barea’s 14 assists give him a total of 128 for his still-blossoming career and gave him the 10th most in school history.
“I’ve just been trying to do more,” said Barea. “I was trying to get my teammates involved and they were making shots.”
While the Retrievers never led in the game, Barnes helped pull the Huskies away in the late minutes of the second half, with back-to-back three-pointers that broke a 72-72 tie. One of those treys came with an open man driving in for what looked to be an easy lay-up, but Barnes chose the hard shot and it paid off.
“I got questioned back at the bench, but I knew I was going to make it,” said Barnes. “I’m a shooter. I didn’t know the time or score or anything.”
Along with Barnes and Barea, Sylbrin Robinson was huge for the Huskies, pulling down eight boards and putting in 14 points all while playing with a fever of 102 degrees.
“[Robinson] had a great effort today,” Everhart said. “He’s a true warrior.”
Javorie Wilson added 13 in the winning cause, going 3-4 from downtown and Jesse Dunn scored 11 points in 19 minutes.
In last Wednesday night’s road game against Hartford (9-12, 4-8 AE), NU showed a televised audience what they could do, beating the Hawks 73-61.
After a slow start, Barea scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half while freshman forward Bennet Davis established a new career-high in points, with 18.
The Huskies iced the game, shooting 8-of-10 in the final 1:46.
Cornellius Wright grabbed a career-high 11 boards helping his team pull down a season-high 52. Barea had 10 and Robinson added 9 as the Huskies out rebounded the Hawks by 14.
“The two things that affect our outcomes are our ability to defend and rebound,” Everhart said. “When we out rebound the other team, we’re 13-0.”
This week the Huskies hit the road for a two-game road trip that can be summed up in one word: revenge.
The Dogs will look to avenge an 80-62 home loss when they head to Vestal, N.Y., Wednesday, for a 7 p.m. rematch with the Binghamton Bearcats. Binghamton shot an amazing 60 percent from the floor the last time the two teams hooked up.
The Huskies return to the Hub Saturday for a rematch of last year’s conference semi-final against Boston University. The Terriers handed the Huskies a tough 76-74 loss when they visited Matthews Arena last month and have just one conference loss this season. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at Walter Brown Arena.
