By David Kroopnick, News Correspondent
After beating Towson, the preseason favorite to win the CAA title, on their home court, it seemed as if Northeastern men’s basketball had gained momentum – especially after a win at Hofstra University to seal the two-game road trip.
But, any momentum the team had upon their return to Boston came to a screeching halt as the Huskies fell to the James Madison University Dukes, 49-46, on Wednesday night.
Northeastern beat Hofstra 70-57 on the shoulders of junior guard Demetrius Pollard who finished with a game-high 25 points. Pollard had the hot hand for much of the game and connected on six of his eight three-point attempts.
“Demetrius Pollard really stepped up and made some great shots for us. When he makes those shots for us it settles everyone else down,” Northeastern Head Coach Bill Coen said after the game. “When he’s making his shots it really spaces the floor for our inside guys. There’s more room for Scotty [Eatherthon],” he continued.
Eatherton chipped in with 18 points but finished 3 rebounds shy of a double-double.
Coen’s squad overcame the injury of junior leader Reggie Spencer who sat out his second consecutive game after playing in every one of the first 83 games of his Northeastern career.
The Hofstra Pride, picked to finish last in the CAA Coaches Poll, have played above expectations with their three early wins. Coen attributed some of this success to Hofstra’s new head coach, Joe Mihalich.
“He [Mihalich] is going to have Hofstra up and running in no time. They have some really good guards, Upshaw is having a tremendous year,” Coen said.
Zeke Upshaw scored the second most points for the Pride with 12, just six behind Dion Nesmith’s 18.
Just four days after scoring 70 points, the Huskies posted a season-low 46 points in a loss against the James Madison University Dukes, Wednesday night. It was a poor offensive showing for both teams. The Dukes shot 40.8 percent from the field, slightly higher than the Huskies’ lowly 37.8 percent.
The Huskies also turned the ball over 17 times during the game, resulting in 17 points for the Dukes. Andre Nation and Charles Cooke jumped into passing lanes all night, combining for 6 steals.
“Nation and Cooke have really great anticipatory skills,” James Madison head coach Matt Brady said. “We don’t go into games saying we’re going to steal the ball.”
On a night where Eatherton did not appear to be his usual high-scoring self, Northeastern could not come up with any sustainable solutions. Eatherton, who is averaging 16.9 points per game, could only muster five on Wednesday night. Coen noted after the game that Eatherton suffered from flu-like symptoms for the last few days and had a limited role in practice.
“We didn’t get him the ball nearly enough, and they did a really good job of doubling him when he did get the ball,” Coen said.
Eatherton finished the game with five shot attempts, converting on just two of them.
“Scott’s a terrific talent. We didn’t give him too many angles,” Brady said. “That was a team effort, to stay in front of him. It was two or three guys every time he was on the court. We were very aware of him, if you’re not aware of him and you play him one-on-one he’s going to get 17 and 12.”
Sophomore guard Andre Nation and sixth-year forward Andrey Semenov led the way offensively for the Dukes, scoring team highs of 13 and 9, respectively. Semenov started out slow but knocked down a clutch three-pointer with 3:15 left in the game to put his team up 47-44, a lead they would not relinquish.
The Huskies will look to bounce back Monday when they visit the University of Delaware. Tip-off against the Blue Hens is set for 7 p.m.
