By Sarah Moomaw, News Staff
The scene that unfolded when the final second ticked off the clock at Matthews Arena on Friday night is one Demetrius Pollard won’t soon forget.
The sophomore guard stumbled backwards as he watched as the net swish and the ball bounce towards Northeastern’s cheerleaders. Teammates and fans – his sister in town from their hometown of Virginia Beach, Va., included – rushed the court.
He had just nailed a buzzer-beating three-point shot for a 65-64 Husky win over crosstown rivals Boston University on opening night after making only four three-pointers in 188 minutes his rookie season.
The winning shot was his only basket of the night.
“It was a great feeling,” Pollard said. “My sister was here and just to see her, I was jumping up and down and to see her beside me, I was like ‘Wow, I just hit this shot.’ I was excited. My team jumping on me. We were next to the band. It was just a great feeling.”
The win moved the Huskies to 3-0 in season openers at Matthews under seven-year head coach Bill Coen and Northeastern has now won seven of the last nine tipoffs against the Terriers.
On Nov. 11, 2011, Northeastern left Commonwealth Avenue with a 82-74 win in overtime in the season opener.
“This is my seventh Northeastern BU game and each year I think they get better and better. It’s a tremendous rivalry,” Coen said. “I thought both teams played extremely hard, you can see the passion on the court, from buzzer to buzzer … we talk all the time about everyone has a chance to contribute and win a basketball game along the way. I just didn’t know it was going to be opening night.”
Coen called a timeout with 19.9 seconds left in regulation. A Northeastern foul sent BU’s Travis Robinson to the free throw line. After a successful first shot setting the score at 64-62, Coen called another timeout.
Robinson returned to the line but missed.
With 9.2 seconds on the clock, the Huskies took the ball up the middle. Pollard grabbed the pass from guard Marco Banegas-Flores and shot for the three, the ball sweeping through the net as the clock ticked down to 0.7 for the win.
“It’s great to see hard work rewarded,” Coen said. “[Pollard has] been up at 6 o’clock in the morning. He’s putting his time in … he wants to find a way to help, which he certainly did this evening.”
The Huskies went into halftime trailing 35-26, but made up ground in the second half, forcing the lead to change possession nine times, never growing more than three after the second tie.
“I was hoping we’d get a score and stop and get two point possession lead,” Coen said. “But you know that’s the way those games are and sometimes it’s not always perfect, but you got to keep your composure and keep plugging and keep believing.”
At 4:57 in the second half, Northeastern pulled within five as it attempted to find the second of eight ties in the game. A three-pointer by senior guard Joel Smith knotted the game at 48 with 8:10 left on the clock.
A jumper by BU’s guard D.J. Irving was matched by a layup from sophomore forward Reggie Spencer take the game to 50 a piece.
From there, dueling free throws would account for 13 of the next 15 points as the Terriers took a one-point lead, 58-57.
Irving fed a layup from underneath the basket, which Spencer answered with one of his own, to put the game back to a one-point difference just before the last media timeout, 60-59.
Sophomore forward Quincy Ford sunk a free throw for the eighth tie at 60 all, before Spencer picked up his final two points of the night with a layup for the 62-60 lead.
At 18:47, the Terriers’ Malik Thomas hit his only three-pointer of the night to give BU a one-point lead.
Missed threes and fouls on both sides preceded Pollard’s heroics that sent the Huskies into the locker room on top after another dramatic finish against the Terriers.
“It’s such a great rivalry,” Coen said. “I love where it’s positioned as opening night, though it causes me a couple of sleepless night early in the year … people are looking forward to it. It’s starting to grow in momentum and I think a few more games like this, I think people are going to be talking about these games for years to come.”
The Huskies will take the court on the road at Princeton University on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
