By Max Nagel, News Correspondent
Coming off of two straight losses, the men’s basketball team needed a win at Georgia State University (GSU) to bring its season record to .500. Despite a hard-fought second half for the Huskies, they fell just short of a victory last night, losing 62-59.
The loss dropped the Huskies to 11-13 on the season and 7-7 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) conference play.
In the first few minutes of regulation, the Panthers found ways to put up points and keep the Huskies off the board, holding NU’s shooting to 38.5 percent and getting a quick lead of 11-2.
As the first half progressed, GSU dominated the court, scoring and continuing to play strong defense leading 21-10 with 8:45 left to play. The Panthers, ranked second for defense in the CAA, continued to prevent NU from scoring, maintaining a double-digit lead for much of the period, but was cut to seven by the buzzer, at 31-24.
It wasn’t until the second half that Northeastern stepped up play, going on a 5-0 run to bring the score within two points. Head coach Bill Coen said he told his players “to exceed Georgia’s energy,” before the second half started.
By the middle of the half, the Huskies got their first lead of the game, 36-35. Northeastern’s leading scorers were junior guards, Joel Smith and Jonathan Lee with 16 and 14 points, respectively, driving the charge.
Northeastern held onto the lead until four and half minutes before the buzzer sounded remaining when GSU tied the game at 52.
Ultimately, it was a three-pointer by GSU’s sophomore guard Devonta White with 1:44 left that put the Panthers on top, 57-56, and created some late momentum that allowed them to grab the victory from Northeastern.
“Once we clawed our way out of the point deficit, I thought we were going to win the game,” Coen said. “We made some threes and got the rhythm of the game going in our direction, but it was a few mishandles of the basketball and some silly fouls that opened the door for Georgia State.”
The Huskies will conclude their three-game road trip in Williamsburg, Va., where they hope to snap their three game losing streak against William & Mary Saturday at 7 p.m.
“We have to get ready to play a very competitive William & Mary team,” Coen said. “I think we have our work cut out for us – they always give us trouble when we play there, but I feel good about how we will do this Saturday night.”
Satruday night, the Huskies traveled to Richmond to take on the leaders of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), Virginia Commonwealth University.
With a capacity crowd of 7,617 at VCU’s Siegel Center, the Huskies had a hard time overcoming the momentum the Homecoming Week fans created for the Rams, falling in a close defeat, 59-56.
Going into the game, VCU had an eight game winning streak was ranked first in the CAA.
The Huskies showed promise in the first half with a seven point lead after 10 minutes of play. But a late 14-0 surge from a handful of NU turnovers and increased VCU press put the Rams on top going into the half, 31-25.
“We’ve struggled with that all season. Turnovers have been something we’ve had trouble with all season,” head coach Bill Coen said.
Following intermission, NU had a hard time turning its play around to slow down VCU’s offense. Within the first few minutes of play, the Rams started putting up points and brought the game to a steady double-digit margin. Their biggest lead was 13 points with sophomore guard Troy Daniels and junior guard Bradford Burgess sinking 3-pointers.
It wasn’t until the middle of the second that Northeastern’s freshman guard/forward Quincy Ford, junior guard Joel Smith and senior forward Kashief Edwards combined for a quick nine points, flustering VCU and bringing the game back into their grasp with the Rams up by only five, 44-39.
“I give credit to Northeastern for playing such a good game,” VCU head coach Shaka Smart said. “They really held on tight and made some big plays when they needed to … Again, Northeastern played a great game against us.”
Husky junior guard Jonathan Lee put up 13 points in the last three minutes but VCU held its ground and was able to maintain the lead until the buzzer.
Standout performances for Northeastern came from Lee, with a game-high 16 points, Ford, with 14, and Smith with 13. Northeastern’s freshman guard Demetrius Pollard had a career-high 14 minutes of play, with six points and three rebounds in his home state of Virginia.
Performances from VCU players like junior guard Troy Daniels, who went 5-for-10 from beyond arc and scored 15 points for the Rams, helped them secure their 20th victory of the season.
Coen said he and his team were not expecting such a game from Daniels, but the Huskies left gave him too many opportunities above the arc.
Despite falling to 11-12 on the season, Coen said he remained optimistic about his team following the game.
“Our guys are true competitors and enjoy playing such great competition,” Coen said.
The Huskies tip off against William & Mary (2-12 CAA, 4-22 overall) Saturday at 7 p.m. in Williamsburg, Va., which will be carried by ESPN 3. The team will return to home court to take on Towson University (1-13 CAA, 1-25 overall) at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
