By Zolan Kanno- Youngs, News Correspondent

While Husky fans may have initially been disappointed after Northeastern lost the CAA championship to James Madison University, and with it lost a bid to the NCAA tournament, the loss does not in itself encapsulate what the young canines have accomplished throughout the 2012-13 season.

Just ask senior captain Jonathan Lee, who was initially disgruntled while answering a question about what he took away from Northeastern’s 21-12 season.

“I’m very, very proud of my team for making it this far. We are having an amazing season,” the senior co-captain said. “We came back, we fought, we competed all season long so to be a first place team and win a [conference regular season] championship and be a first place seed. That’s an accomplishment right there.”

Lee, who considered red shirting as a result of an ankle injury that left him out of the first nine games of the season, knows all about the amount of obstacles the Huskies overcame this season.

While Northeastern may have only lost one senior last year, only eight of their 14-man roster returned as a result of players transferring. Four of those eight players had just one year of experience at the college level.

However, the impact that returning sophomores Quincy Ford, Reggie Spencer and Northeastern’s season-leading scorer Joel Smith had on the season, as well as great play by the Northeastern bench made Lee and Husky fans around campus believe in this team.

And who could forget about the great freshmen class that has instilled excitement in the basketball program’s future? How about David Walker, who solidified his starting spot even when Lee came back, and Derrico Peck, who had a career best 10 points in the CAA championship?

Or Zach Stahl, who made the game-winning play for the Huskies in their win against Princeton and on numerous occasions (like the CAA championship) had to guard players much bigger than him?

According to coach Bill Coen, those contributions represent the identity that the team has built for themselves throughout the season.

“I was proud of our effort, I thought our kids battled to the end, I thought guys that were in difficult positions really showed the heart of this team and the resiliency of this team,” Coen said.

Lee led the Huskies with 14 points, all scored in the second half, in the loss to James Madison.

While the team-leading scorer’s second half effort helped the Huskies close James Madison’s first-half 22-point lead, it wasn’t enough to overcome another slow start for the Huskies, especially when his co-captain Smith fouled out of the game just after the Huskies closed the score to eight points with less than eight minutes to go.

“We stick together even though our shots don’t fall. We need stops, and we just kept believing in ourselves, but unfortunately we got down again and we tried to make our run, tried to make our push, but came up short,” said Lee, who hit the game-winning layup against George Mason in the semifinal round of the CAA tournament after the team trailed by 24 points.

Coen, who has been selected as a finalist for the Hugh Durham Coach of the Year award, also expressed excitement that his team’s season won’t end with the loss.

“We’re disappointed tonight, but we know there’s more basketball left in the season. This team has accomplished many great things and I think it’s a tribute to the character of the kids in that locker room,” he said.

The team will be heading to the National Invitation Tournament in the coming weeks and Lee said that while the Huskies are disappointed they missed the NCAA bid, they’re ready to make their mark on the NIT.

“We’ll really bounce back. We try not to lose two in a row so we’ll really practice hard and the NIT is just another opportunity, any postseason is a blessing for any team so we’re going to prepare,” Lee said. “We’re going to attack it and do our best to win.”