Northeastern men’s basketball (15-13, 7-8 CAA) lost to the College of Charleston Cougars (21-8, 11-5 CAA). The Feb. 19 matchup was the second meeting between the two teams, with the Cougars coming out on top the first time on Jan.18 in a close 87-85 game. This matchup ended 73-63 to the Cougars, the Huskies’ 13th loss of the season.
“They didn’t press us often, but their return on investment was really good. I thought that’s when the game slipped away a little bit,” said Huskies’ head coach Bill Coen when asked about his opponent’s tactics after the game.
The first half was jam-packed with fast paced, end-to-end action with both teams trading shots and finding immediate responses.
The game opened with two baskets from the Cougars’ highest scorer, senior forward Ante Brzovic. The Huskies quickly found some momentum with a three-pointer from junior guard Harold Woods assisted by junior guard LA Pratt, followed by a Woods layup on a Cougar turnover.
A free-throw by the Cougars and another layup from Woods saw the Huskies up 7-5 at the first media time out, about six minutes into the half. After the break, the Cougars traded shots with Northeastern, maintaining a slim lead before an offensive rebound turned into a three-pointer by sophomore guard Deywilk Tavarez, which tied the Cougars at 12 points with 13 minutes left in the half.
The Cougars carved a small lead over the Huskies after a second-chance layup and a dunk to bring the score to 16-12. The Huskies searched for a response, but the Cougars had a block and two defensive rebounds to protect their lead. The Cougars proceeded to go on a 12-4 run to bring the score to 26-18 with just under seven minutes to play in the half.
A link-up play and a show of skill by the Huskies was rewarded with a Woods layup after a missed shot from the Cougars. “ [Woods] did a great job. I thought early on he was able to generate some offense.” Coen said of Woods’ performance.
Pratt then combined with Woods for a three-pointer after another missed Cougar shot to cut the deficit to three points, 26-23. The Huskies were back in it with 5 minutes left to play.
After the second media timeout, the Huskies and Cougars went back and forth, both scoring nine points, including a dunk for the Cougars, a three-pointer for the Huskies and another three-pointer for the Cougars two seconds left. The first half ended with a tight score of 39-33 in the Cougars’ favor.
Though the lead was slim, the Huskies showed signs of sloppiness with eight turnovers in the half to the Cougars’ five and a 43% in field goals to the Cougars’ 52%. This is just the sixth time all season the Huskies have allowed an opponent to shoot over 50%. CAA Co-Player of the Week and the Huskies’ top scorer of the season, junior guard Rashad King was more active on defense with a block, two defensive rebounds and a steal during the first half.
The second half opened with two missed Husky shots while the Cougars piled on the pressure.
But the Huskies broke the pressure and scored two points,closing the gap. Following in the frantic nature of the game, the Cougars replied with their own two points less than 20 seconds later.
The score was 41-35 after two minutes played in the second half. Junior center Collin Metcalf, a stalwart in defense with 6 blocks during the game, got in on the offensive action with a slam dunk to bring the Huskies within four points of the Cougars at 44-40. Pratt assisted the shot before Brzovic extended Charleston’s lead to six points.
After the media timeout, the Huskies defense struggled to keep up with the Cougars. Despite their best efforts, the Cougars broke through and went on a 7-0 run, bringing the score to 52-40.
Due to the ebbing and flowing nature of the game, the defense was only down for so long before picking up steam with two defensive rebounds and two blocks. The offense then picked up three points from a solo play by sophomore guard William Kermoury, followed by a dunk by King, who seemed to have found his footing in the second half, scoring six points in two minutes.
A Cougar foul saw Woods return to the free throw line, shooting two and scoring two after the timeout, bringing the Huskies within seven points of Charleston at 51-57 with 10 minutes to go. Two minutes of no scoring followed with blocked and missed shots was broken by Woods on a driving layup in the paint. King followed with a solo dunk.
Despite the deficit, the Huskies didn’t go down easily. Metcalf blocked another shot, preserving the gap before another timeout was called.
The teams traded shots for the next few minutes, before a rebound by Metcalf saw sophomore guard JB Frankel net a three-pointer with only three and a half minutes to go.
A Cougar foul saw King to the line where he got two more points, bringing the score to 62-69. To break the Husky momentum, Charleston called a timeout with just over two minutes to go.
The game resumed with frenzy at the net as the Huskies scrambled to find an answer in the dying minutes of the game. However, the Cougars netted again for the final score of 72-63 for the Huskies’ second loss to the Cougars this season.
When asked what improvements the team would make going forward and especially heading to the CAA championship in early March, Coen said, “We have to be better defensively if we expect to beat teams like Charleston. … That’s the level we hope to get to if we hopefully win the CAA championship down in [Washington,] D.C.”
The Huskies’ next matchup is against the Monmouth University Hawks (10-18, 8-7 CAA) Feb. 24 at OceanFirst Bank Center in West Long Branch, NJ.
