By Jake Fischer, News Correspondent
The Northeastern Huskies men’s basketball team has proven itself to be the top club in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) during this regular season. But, what has gone overlooked by some are their many incredible performances on the road. In fact, the Huskies are a perfect 7-0 in CAA play away from Matthews Arena thus far this year.
Last week especially the Huskies’ abilities to be successful on the road were on full display, even after changing their travel plans due to severe impact of winter storm Nemo. Dealing with adversity, as Northeastern has all season, the Huskies were able to secure three equally impressive road victories in a week where they were on the road for five of six nights.
On Tuesday, Feb. 5, the Huskies left Boston for Hempstead, N.Y., spent the night in a hotel and then faced the Hofstra University Pride in the Mack Sports Complex. Down their only bigs off the bench, Dinko Marshavelski and Zach Stahl, and as many as 10 points in the second half, Northeastern still managed to escape Long Island with a victory. Jonathan Lee spearheaded Northeastern’s second half offensive attack as he penetrated the lane with ease. But, down the stretch, it was Lee’s senior co-captain, Joel Smith, who was huge for the Huskies, as his three-straight three-pointers late really pushed the Huskies out front. Following the game, head coach Bill Coen said he was very proud of his team’s resilient effort.
“The guys just played with so much more energy in the second half,” Coen said after the game. “It started with Jon Lee offensively and Marco Banegas-Flores really gave us a spark off the bench defensively.”
Banegas-Flores forced two turnovers and added four points in just seven minutes of action.
Following the game, the basketball program headed home to Boston on a charter bus and was on another bus heading to the airport by mid-afternoon on Thursday to flee the impending New England storm for Virginia.
During their time down south, the Huskies were very successful as they defeated both Old Dominion University and the College of William & Mary in equally impressive fashions.
Once again without Marshavelski and Stahl, Northeastern was able to win in an adverse environment on the road when they took on the Old Dominion Monarchs. ODU, playing a rejuvenated brand of basketball under interim head coach, Jim Corrigan, took the first place Huskies to overtime.
But, even on the road, in front of a rowdy home crowd, Northeastern still came out victorious over its hosts. The team’s senior captains came up big once again for the Huskies, as Smith’s 27 points led the team and Lee drilled several late free throws to ice the contest.
Next, two days later and after four nights staying in Virginia hotels, Northeastern visited the William & Mary Tribe and would face more challenges on the road. While coach Coen did get Marshavelski and Stahl back from injury, the Huskies would find themselves down as many as 7 points with just 5:51 left in the contest, Northeastern could have called it quits. But, the top team in the conference buckled down and, behind seniors Jonathan Lee and Joel Smith, rallied to defeat the Tribe 68-64. The victory was thanks to an 18-4 run over the final 5:51. In this one, the Huskies’ overall defensive effort inside, led by Reggie Spencer and Quincy Ford, proved vital as they held the Tribe’s big man, Tim Rusthoven, to 14 points after the junior forward hung a career-high 25 points up on NU in Matthews Arena on Jan. 23.
With the team’s tremendous success on the road this season, Huskies fans should be very confident in the men’s basketball team’s chances to secure a CAA Tournament championship down in Richmond, Va. in March.
