By Patrick McHugh, News Staff
Trailing visiting Delaware 61-56 with less than 40 seconds to play, it looked as though the men’s basketball team was headed for its third consecutive defeat last night.
Instead, the Huskies stormed back to score the final six points of the contest, capped by a game-winner by junior captain and guard Joel Smith with 1.1 seconds remaining to win 62-61 at Matthews Arena. The Huskies are now 10-10 overall and 6-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). The Blue Hens fell to 9-11 and 5-5 in the league.
Smith, who managed only six points combined in his last two games at Drexel University and Old Dominion University, led Northeastern with 20 points in the win.
“Tonight was just that kind of a night for me,” Smith said. “[My teammates] kept feeding me the ball, we were all locked in, and we just executed when we really needed to.”
With 30 seconds remaining, NU junior captain Jonathan Lee hit two free throws to narrow the gap to 61-58. Delaware then threw the ball out of bounds on the ensuing sequence, giving the Huskies possession back. Junior forward Kauri Black hit two free throws to make it a one point game with 13 seconds to go.
Blue Hens sophomore guard Devon Saddler, who led all scorers with 24 points, could have put his team ahead by three on a set of free throws with 11 seconds remaining, but missed from the line. The Huskies got the ball back and called a timeout with 5.7 seconds remaining. Smith was wide open coming off a screen and drilled the winning jump shot for NU.
“He’s the guy we want to shoot the ball,” Northeastern head coach Bill Coen said. “He’s got confidence and he’s put in the time in the summer to become a great shooter.”
In the opening minutes of the contest both clubs appeared fatigued from playing three games in five days. The teams combined for only 12 points in the first nine minutes, and sloppy passes led to 10 combined turnovers. As the half continued, both teams began to get in rhythm, with Saddler leading all scorers with 12 points while Smith led NU with seven. The game entered halftime tied at 22.
Saddler, who averaged 13.2 points-per-game in three contests against the Huskies last season, came out hot to begin the second half by scoring his team’s first nine points. The visitors grabbed their biggest lead of the game, 31-25, with 17:24 remaining. Lee responded with a run of his own, scoring 10 points in a seven minute stretch to pull NU ahead by one with less than five minutes remaining.
Northeastern will host Hofstra University Saturday at Matthews Arena for a 12 p.m. tip.
Youtube video via Northeastern.
