By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, News Staff
NEW ORLEANS — In a city that knows plenty about making a powerful comeback, the Huskies made a rally of their own against the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee for a 62-59 win on Saturday.
Northeastern (3-8) had to overcome a 20-point deficit and one of the worst first half performances of its season in order to get the win in the Westin Holiday Classic at Tulane.
“We know the game’s 40 minutes long and we’ve been down and come back before and guys in that locker room believe that we’ll always have a chance if there’s time on the clock,” coach Bill Coen said.
Red-shirt junior forward Scott Eatherton scored 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for another double double and junior guard Demetrius Pollard also scored in double digits with 11 points for the Huskies
Senior Jordan Aaron led the Panthers (9-4) in scoring with 14 points. The 5-foot-10 point guard also pulled down 8 rebounds. Sophomore Matt Tiby and senior Kyle Kelm also added 11 points each.
After only scoring 17 points in the first half – the team’s lowest since 2011 – the Devlin Fieldhouse crowd saw a difference in the Huskies’ swagger as soon as the team came out of the break. Co-captain Reggie Spencer immediately got the team going with an emphatic dunk along the baseline. With a 36-19 lead, Tiby, the Panthers leading scorer on the season, committed his third foul, forcing him to sit for nearly 9 minutes.
“Reggie got us going with that dunk at the start of halftime and everybody got in and chipped at the lead and we were lucky to come out with a victory tonight,” Coen said.
In that period of time, Northeastern went on a 17-12 run to bring it within 12 points. The Huskies then got into some foul trouble themselves, with Eatherton committing his third foul. However, it proved to be a great opportunity for sophomore Zach Stahl to give his team a lift off the bench. The sophomore forward use the opportunity to contribute two big buckets in a 8-0 run.
After Aaron connected on a driving lay-up, sophomore guard David Walker hit a huge 3-pointer for the Huskies, pulling them back within one possession. While Northeastern only shot 5-21 from beyond the arc, it was one of their better performances from the free throw line, 9-13, on the season.
The game remained within, at most, two possessions throughout its closing minutes. With 1:33 left and Northeastern up 56-55, the Huskies did the sensible thing in the most crucial minutes of the ball game; give the ball to Eatherton. The Hershey, Pa. native nailed a jumper to make it a 3-point game, making most assume Northeastern had completed another great comeback.
But with 37 seconds left, Aaron nailed a fade away 3-pointer from 3-feet beyond the arc while simultaneously being fouled by sophomore Derrico Peck. The senior converted on the 4-point play, putting the Panthers up by 1.
Eatherton wouldn’t allow the win to slip away. The co-captain knocked down 4 free throws in the remaining seconds of the game, sealing the win for Northeastern.
“I know he’s put in a lot of time in his free throws and I was really proud of him to go to the line and knock down the big ones down the stretch,” Coen said. “He made about every big play.”
It was a tale of two completely different halves for the Huskies. In the first, Northeastern had 13 turnovers—the majority on traveling violations—and only shot 26 percent from the field.
“You’re coming out of exams and your not playing in rhythm and I thought we had a couple good practices leading to it but it was just turnovers that were uncharacteristic,” coach Bill Coen said. “We had the chance to regroup at halftime. They got a lot of pride in that locker room and they didn’t want to get embarrassed.”
Northeastern will take on Tulane University Sunday at 5 p.m. CT/ 6 p.m. EST.
