By: Pat McHugh, News Staff
With four freshmen and five sophomores, the men’s basketball team’s lacks playing experience and that contributed to the Huskies’ 84-68 home loss to Siena Saturday, head coach Bill Coen said.
“In the first two games we didn’t show any ill effects from being inexperienced and today I thought we showed a bunch,” Coen said. “Sometimes on days like this it’s a tough pill to swallow, but you have to take your medicine and just get better.”
After starting the season with wins over Boston University and Southern Illinois, Northeastern was in search of a 3-0 start for the first time since 2005 when it welcomed the Saints to Boston this Homecoming Weekend. Senior captain and guard Chaisson Allen led the home team with 18 points while sophomore forward Kauri Black and sophomore guard Jonathan Lee had 10 points each.
Though he scored above his season average of 16 points-per-game, Allen’s offensive impact was minimal, said Siena head coach Mitch Buonaguro, who said stopping Allen was a point of emphasis for his team.
“He’s going to get 16, 18 [points] most nights, but I didn’t want him to have a real big game because then they’re tough to stop,” Buonaguro said.
Coen said Allen’s supporting cast was not as strong as previous contests.
“In our first two games we’ve had guys step up around him and today I’m not sure that was the case,” Coen said.
Though the Saints held only a five-point advantage at halftime, a 21-6 run in the early portion of the second half stretched the lead to 20 points, allowing Siena to cruise to victory. Saints’ forward Ryan Rossiter did the most damage for the visitors, dropping a game-high 28 points and grabbing 15 rebounds to lead all players in both categories. Senior guard Clarence Jackson added 24 points as well.
Both coaches admitted the contrast in defensive play contributed to the game’s outcome. NU entered Saturday’s game allowing an average of 63 points-per-game but struggled to stop the inside-outside combination of Rossiter and Jackson, allowing the Saints to shoot 56 percent from the floor. In contrast the Huskies shot 41 percent from the floor and were only 8-26 shooting 3-pointers.
“We were taken to school by a solid team, an experienced team, a team that’s been to the NCAA Tournament a few times,” Coen said. “I think there was a stretch during the game that that inexperience was very valuable for them and detrimental for us. We struggled in terms of our zone defense.”
The loss dropped Northeastern to 2-1 on the season and improved Siena to 1-2. The teams met nearly a year earlier in Albany, N.Y., when the Saints earned a 59-53 win on Nov. 17, 2009.
The Huskies return to action Saturday when they travel to Logan, Utah, to take on Utah State, a team NU defeated 64-61 Nov. 21, 2009 at Matthews Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 9 p.m.
Choosing to take positives out of the setback, Coen pointed out playing Siena, which has reached the NCAA Tournament each of the last three seasons, gives his young team an opportunity to challenge itself against a historically successful opponent.
“I’d rather know now what my team needs to work on by playing quality opponents,” Coen said. “When you play that type of schedule and don’t bring your ‘A’ game it’s very unforgiving. I think you learn a whole lot more from a loss than a win, so this will be a good opportunity to grow as a team.”
