By Jared Shafran

Last night the men’s basketball team suffered a loss to a strong UNC Wilmington team by a score of 77-69 at the Trask Coliseum in Wilmington, N.C. Sophomore Matt Janning led the Huskies with 21 points on eight for 13 shooting.

The Seahawks were led by their four senior starters, all finishing in double digits.

Northeastern took control early and held the lead for most of the first half. They were up by as many as nine points midway through the first half when UNC Wilmington went on a 15-0 run and took the lead, holding the Huskies scoreless for almost nine minutes in the process.

That run for UNCW turned into an impressive 23-4 run to end the half.

“Basketball is a game of runs,” said head coach Bill Coen. “We had an early run but then they had a run of their own and we were unable to come back from that.”

At halftime, the Huskies were down 35-25 but still felt confident that they were in the game despite the events of the first half.

The Seahawks offense was really a tale of two halves. They were led early by their senior shooting guard, Dan Fountain, who scored an impressive 15 points in the first half, but was held to only two points in the second. All of his first half points came from behind the arc, as he connected on five three-pointers.

Wilmington guard TJ Carter had the hot hand in the second half, scoring all 17 of his points.

The Huskies started fast in the second half with a quick basket by sophomore center Nkem Ojougboh, but could not seem to cut into the lead any in the first five minutes.

Then Northeastern got a much needed boost from sophomore Baptiste Bataille, who came off the bench and got hot from behind the arc. After hitting two three-pointers in a matter of minutes, Bataille hit a third three-ball with about 10 minutes left in the game. Finishing with 10 points and five assists, he provided a lot of energy and really let his emotion show.

“He really led the charge for us,” Coen said of Bataille. “He gave us the spark that we needed off the bench.”

In addition to Bataille’s performance, the Huskies had another bench player who stepped up. In only his second game with the Huskies, freshman Vinny Lima scored 10 points, his first as a collegiate athlete.

Lima hit his first career basket for NU to cut the Seahawk lead to seven with around nine minutes left to play. He followed that up with a three-pointer, reducing the lead to just four. His final three-pointer came with eight minutes remaining.

With seven minutes left, the Huskies were only down 55-50, and Janning brought them to within three of the Seahawks with a big basket.

But then it turned into the T.J. Carter show. Carter scored 11 points in just over five minutes, including two three point plays to take over the game. Finishing with 17, Carter tied Fountain as the high man for the Seahawks.

With just over two minutes left to go, senior Vladimir Kuljanin of UNC Wilmington hit a basket to bring the lead to double digits. Kuljanin finished with 14 points and eight rebounds for the Seahawks.

“We have to learn how hard we need to play on the road to win a conference game,” Coen said. “We have a certain comfort level when we play at home and now we need to bring that level of concentration and focus when we play on the road.”

UNC Wilmington shot an astounding 60 percent in the game, 72 percent in the second half. And although Janning hit a couple threes at the end, it was too little too late. UNC was 12 for 15 from the line and the first half run was too much for the Huskies to overcome.

“I was extremely proud of how we battled,” Coen said. “Although I am disappointed with the results, I am proud of our effort.”

The Huskies return to Matthews Arena with a game against the Pride of Hofstra Saturday at 1 p.m.