By Max Lederman

Flying high following their historic win against Boston College last weekend, the Huskies came to a crashing halt last week.

NU dropped their first two conference games to Hartford (82-75) and Vermont (89-81).

What makes Saturday’s 82-75 loss at Hartford worse, the Huskies led by as much as 15 points during the first half. The loss marks their second straight in the America East Conference.

“We are still a young team,” said Northeastern coach Ron Everhart. “And not a very good road team right now.”

Javorie Wilson’s 20 points and 10 rebounds, his first career double-double, were not enough to fight off the Hartford comeback. Freshman point guard Jose Juan Barea added a game-high 21 points in the losing effort. “We just played bad,” said the freshman guard of his team’s embarrassing loss. “We tried to keep the lead, and we just couldn’t.”

After taking a two point lead into the break, the Hawks started the second half with a 10-2 run that resembled a kick to the teeth, and NU just didn’t have an answer. Hartford outscored Northeastern 42-37 in the second half on their way to their third straight conference win.

The Dogs did show signs of the team that upset BC last Sunday when they reeled off a 16-0 run in the first half to give them a nice 21-8 lead. The bottom line is that the Hawks answered and the Huskies couldn’t get rolling again.

After the Huskies started the game with a 17-6 rebounding edge, the Hawks took over the backboard, pulling in 10 boards and allowing the Huskies just one to finish the half. The final rebounding tally was 40-35 Hartford.

“This has happened a few times this season,” said Everhart. “It just seems like we aren’t as hungry as the game goes on.”

In a reversal of roles, The Huskies came fighting back from a 20-point deficit against Vermont on Wednesday. However, unlike their opponents on Saturday, the Huskies couldn’t pull off the comeback victory in their America East opener. The Huskies made a rally to trim a 20-point second-half deficit to four, but could get no closer.

The Huskies went on a 21-7 run to make it a 79-73 game with 2:19 to play. With just 50 seconds remaining on the clock, Vermont native Jesse Dunn hit a trey to bring the Huskies within four, but the Cats hit some clutch free-throws to end the NU threat.

The loss can be attributed to poor shooting, with the Huskies shooting just 40.8 percent from the field and 30.6 percent from downtown. The Catamounts shot 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from long range. “I don’t like to make excuses, but we have a lot of guys playing through injuries now,” said Everhart. “We need to get healthy.”

Wednesday’s conference home opener against Maine will be the Huskies first home game in the last four games, and their second in the past eight. “I think it will be nice for the guys to be at home for a change,” coach Everhart said. The game is at 7 p.m. at Solomon Court on Wednesday, Jan. 15.