By Matthew MacCormack, news staff
For the second consecutive week, the Northeastern men’s basketball team began in victory, but dropped the second game at week’s end.
The schedule was daunting, as the Huskies traveled to clash with two Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) heavyweights.
NU (18-10) began the stretch at Hofstra University (18-10) where it collected a convincing 79-68 win over the Pride. Next was a game at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW), where the Huskies fell 66-61 in a nail-biter with the Seahawks (15-10).
The penultimate road trip of the regular season began on Thursday, when NU’s victory gave it the season sweep of the Pride. Despite 18 points and 11 assists from Hofstra junior guard Juan’ya Green, the Huskies pulled through.
“We played a pretty good offensive game,” Head Coach Bill Coen said. “We shot the ball well and we closed out the game with some excellent free throw shooting.”
Redshirt senior forward Scott Eatherton led the pack, pouring in a season-high 24 points on eight of 10 shooting to go with nine rebounds. Junior guard David Walker also played well, with 20 points and a career-high eight assists.
Hofstra nabbed an early 13-12 lead in the first 10 minutes, but the Pride wouldn’t have another lead all game as NU staved off the home side.
The Huskies put together an 8-1 run that started at the six-minute mark and put them up 31-20. Hofstra rallied back in the final minutes of the first, posting its own 9-2 run. The squads headed into halftime with NU leading 33-29.
Eatherton caught fire in the second frame, hitting seven of eight shots for 20 points. The Huskies rode a scorching shooting streak to a 49-38 advantage in the first eight minutes of the half. From there, the game began to even out.
Hofstra was able to stay in the game until a 3-pointer from redshirt junior forward Quincy Ford (15 points, five rebounds) ignited a 9-2 Husky run with five minutes to play. NU coasted the rest of the way, hitting 10 of 10 free throws in the final two minutes to clinch the 79-68 victory.
The Huskies shot 56 percent from the field and racked up 44 points in the paint against the Pride. NU outrebounded Hofstra 33-17 and garnered assists on 18 of its 27 baskets.
“When we’re playing our best basketball, you can tell by the numbers,” Coen said. “Our baskets are assisted at a high percentage rate, we’re outrebounding our opponents, and we have good balance between our perimeter production and our frontcourt production.”
On Saturday, the Huskies seemed to reverse Coen’s winning formula in a frustrating loss at UNCW. NU shot just 17-31 from the charity stripe, and clanked its way to a paltry 41 percent field goal percentage.
“You really can’t win too many competitive basketball games when you leave that many points on the line,” Coen said.
Eatherton scored 23 points and had eight rebounds but UNCW proved to be too much to handle.
“They made the shots they needed to make and got the stops they needed to get,” Coen said.
Spurred by a raucous home crowd, the Seahawks grabbed an early 18-10 lead.
The Huskies roared back in the final 12 minutes of the half, however, as Eatherton chipped in 14 points in the first frame. At the half, NU held a 31-30 advantage.
The teams went back and forth in the final 20 minutes. A free throw from Walker (11 points, five assists, five rebounds) tied the game with 7:14 to play. However, the Huskies went without a field goal for the next five minutes, allowing UNCW to keep the distance.
Walker buried a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 56-55, but UNCW senior guard Freddie Jackson answered with a triple. The Seahawks converted their free throws and squeaked out a 66-61 win.
“We had a chance to win the basketball game,” Coen said. “But we just didn’t execute down the stretch, we didn’t make free throws and we missed maybe a half-dozen layups that really could’ve made a difference.”
One player who did make a difference for the Huskies was Eatherton, who won CAA Player of the Week honors for his efforts. The senior forward averaged 23.5 points and 8.5 rebounds over the road trip, leading the Huskies in both scoring and rebounding.
“[Eatherton’s] competitiveness is at an all-time high because of that senior urgency,” Coen said. “[He’s] really dialed in and ready, willing and able to shoulder a load for us.”
The Huskies will need their senior leader to step up if they hope to claim the CAA’s top spot.
NU has struggled in its recent stretch against conference opponents. After starting 6-1 in CAA play, the Huskies have gone 4-4 in their last eight conference outings. NU sits in the second spot of the CAA rankings, tied in CAA wins with UNCW, the College of William & Mary and James Madison University. With just a few games left on the schedule, NU may need to win the rest of its games to have a chance at the regular season CAA crown. Nonetheless, the Huskies have a realistic shot at claiming the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament. The CAA tournament will tip off on March 3 in Baltimore.
“There aren’t that many opportunities left to make a run,” Coen said. “[But] it’s anybody’s race.”
Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics
