By Sarah Moomaw, News Staff

Men’s basketball head coach Bill Coen attributed Tuesday night’s 72-66 loss to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to a lack of execution as the Huskies lost their third straight game.

“We try to emphasize to our guys that we’re going to win basketball games through our effort and our execution,” Coen said. “I thought for sure we accomplished one of those goals this evening, I thought we played with a lot of effort … unfortunately I thought our execution wasn’t what it needed to be if we wanted to beat a quality team like UMass.”

The Huskies’ major struggle came from beyond the arc where they successfully shot for three three-pointers in 27 attempts (11.1 percent).

“We’re a good three-point shooting team, people have seen that this year,” Coen said. “And we had open ones, I don’t think they were contested … we just didn’t knock them down. That’s part of execution.”

With the absence of senior forward Jon Lee, Coen is left with only one senior to lead the team with experience. Senior guard Joel Smith is filling that role well, having put up double digit points in seven of eight games this season.

“He got to the basket a few times, had some good passes, without Jon in the lineup, we still need [Joel Smith] to manufacture some points,” Coen said of Smith’s 10 points – his lowest total since shooting 11 against University of California-Riverside in the Alaska Shootout on Nov. 21.

On Tuesday, his efforts were supplemented by double-digit efforts from three other Huskies – all sophomores in Reggie Spencer, Marco Banegas-Flores and Quincy Ford – helped him out, but it wasn’t enough to outpace the Minutemen as both sides kept the game close.

For the second tip-off at Matthews, both sides rallied to keep the game close, causing the lead to change possession 11 times with seven ties.

Northeastern had the first advantage of the game off five made foul shots before the Minutemen steam rolled to a seven-point lead with 11:38 left in the first. A layup by Banegas-Flores ended an 8-0 run by the Huskies, for a one-point lead, 19-18.

The two benches would draw to three ties before a three-pointer by the game’s leading scorer Chaz Williams would put the Minutemen up by one going into the half, 30-29.

The momentum from taking the lead survived the 15-minute break as UMass broke out on a 7-0 run in under two minutes of play for an eight-point lead, 37-29.

“To credit UMass they turned their energy up,” Coen said. “I didn’t think we responded well in the opening minute of the half … they spurted to an eight-point lead or something like that right away. You can’t let the game get away from you like that.”

Northeastern attempted to turn it around. At 4:52 in the second half, Smith intercepted a cross court pass in Northeastern’s defensive end and took it down the court. After a missed three by Ford, Spencer grabbed the rebound and went up for the dunk from underneath the basket to cut the Minutemen’s lead to four.

Another 8-0 Husky run would knot the game at 39, but UMass would fire back with their own 6-0 streak to regain the lead.

After trading baskets, foul shots and leads, Northeastern reached out to a six-point, 61-55, lead with 4:24 left in regulation, only to watch the lead drain away.

Williams tied the game at 62 on a fastbreak layup through traffic, starting the final run of the game, 10-2.

The Huskies will take on La Salle University for Game 3 of a four-game homestand on Saturday at Matthews Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.