By Jared Shafran

The men’s basketball team came away with a big victory last night, defeating the Delaware Blue Hens on the road, 53-49.

The Huskies were led on the scoreboard again by sophomore captain Matt Janning’s 13 points, but big plays by other members of the team were the story of the game.

“We executed well offensively and defensively tonight and did the little things that we had to do to get a win,” said head coach Bill Coen.

The inspiring play of freshman point guard Chaisson Allen lifted the Huskies to new heights. He finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds and was one of three Huskies who recorded a double-double. Sophomore forward Manny Adako and sophomore center Nkem Ojougboh were the other two.

The Huskies got ahead early, going up by a score of 10-2 in the first five minutes. All five starting players were on the board early and it looked like it was going to be a good offensive night. But the Blue Hens soon tightened it up after a three-pointer by Edwin Santiago.

The Huskies beat this same Delaware team 11 days ago at Matthews Arena and were determined to have the same result tonight, despite the change of scenery.

The Blue Hens were sticking around, but the Huskies went up by six with 3:30 minutes left in the first half on a reverse layup by Matt Janning and the next play changed the momentum completely.

A technical foul was called on Alphonso Dawson. Janning made the free throws and Chaisson Allen connected on another bucket, putting NU up by 10. The Huskies closed out the half on a huge three-pointer from Allen after Delaware had gone on a short-lived 5-0 run.

With an eight-point lead at the break, the Huskies were poised to come out and take control of the game in the second half. But big baskets by Delaware’s leading scorer Herb Courtney allowed the Blue Hens to actually take the lead with about 12 minutes remaining. Courtney finished the game with 16 points.

“They are a good team and they were not just going to go away,” Coen said. “We just did the things that gave us the lead in the first place and fought through the runs.”

The Huskies got into foul trouble early in the second, putting Delaware in the bonus at that 12-minute mark. Just as it looked like Delaware was going to give their home fans what they wanted and go on a run, Matt Janning hit a huge three-pointer to tie the game at 40 with ten minutes left.

After a couple of misses from the line by sophomore center Nkem Ojougboh, Delaware again had a chance to broaden its lead but could not due to solid defense by the Huskies.

“The key to playing good defense is to keep the other team off balance and not let them get into a rhythm offensively,” said Coen.

The momentum took another turn in the Huskies’ direction when sophomore guard Baptiste Bataille hit a three-pointer to regain the lead for the Huskies with about six minutes to play.

Northeastern was right back in front and kept that position for the rest of the game. The defense stepped up and Delaware’s offense went cold. Neither team scored again until two and a half minutes remained in the game.

That next score was from Ojougboh, who redeemed himself from the charity stripe as this time he connected on both free throws to give NU a three point lead. Ojougboh finished the game with a double-double, 10 points and 11 rebounds.

He also went an impressive 8-10 at the line. After the two misses just minutes beforehand, he bounced right back and made six in a row which the Huskies that edge they needed on the road.

The Huskies wrapped up the game with clutch free throw shooting down the stretch and even more important stops on the defensive side of the ball. NU outrebounded Delaware by a margin of eight, and with 11 turnovers.

“We had great defense down the stretch and that was something that we didn’t have against Hofstra in our last game,” Coen said. “I am extremely proud of the team and our ability to come away with a win.”

With the win, the Huskies have improved their record to 8-12 (4-6 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).

The Huskies will now travel to Drexel to play the Dragons at 5 p.m. as they to make it two in a row.