By Max Lederman
Bounce.
No, not that Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow movie that seems to have been made for Lifetime, more like the Northeastern men’s basketball team bouncing back after their worst game of the season.
Jose Juan Barea came out on fire Saturday afternoon against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (3-19, 1-10 America East). After scoring just four points in the first half of Wednesday’s blowout loss to Stony Brook, Barea busted out 19 of his career high 28 points in the first half of the 75-61 win against UNH.
“I just tried to find lanes, and basically took what the defense was giving me,” the 5’11” guard said.
Javorie Wilson added 17 points in the winning effort as the Huskies improved their overall record to 13-11, 6-5 in the AE.
The Huskies started the game off sluggish, hitting only two of their first nine field goal attempts, and finding themselves trailing 11-4 with 13:01 remaining in the first half.
NU then pulled their own 11-4 run out of their sleeve to tie the game at 15, but the Wildcats responded with a 6-0 run of their own to regain the lead, and what looked to be the momentum.
That’s when number five took over. In the last 7:18 of the half the point guard they call Jose accounted for all of the Huskies offense by dropping 13 points and dishing out three dimes, two of which concluded with three point shots. NU went into the half with a 39-33 advantage, but the streaks continued as the Cats started the second half with a 10-3 run that gave them a one-point lead.
After both teams went back and forth for the majority of the second half, the Huskies finished the game by dropping a 16-6 run in the ‘Cats litter box that would put the nail in the coffin.
Although the Huskies won the game, the loss of the their leading rebounder, Sylbrin Robinson, was ever evident. UNH outrebounded the Dogs 14-4 on the offensive glass. Robinson, the America East’s second leading rebounder, averaged 3.9 offensive rebounds per game, before being sidelined with an elbow injury.
“Whether it be offensive or defensive rebounds, it is a big problem for us,” said Northeastern coach Ron Everhart. “We have had to fight through a lot of injuries this year, and it is going to be tough without Sylbrin down low for us.”
Besides the rebounding woes, NU has not lost consecutive games since losing their first three conference games. Heck, they have only lost two since that point and have won six out of their last eight, pulling them from the cellar dwellers of the America Eastall the way to an astounding third place. The team seems to grow stronger with every game, win or lose.
Speaking of losing, … the Huskies were dropped last Wednesday at Solomon Court. The Stony Brook Seawolves, to the tune of a 78-60 thrashing, destroyed the Huskies. The scorching hot Seawolves (11-9, 5-4 America East), look to end the Huskies four-game win streak and win their sixth in a row, started the game with a 16-2 run.
The Huskies play in the first half was almost as bad as TNT’s coverage of the 3-point shootout, with the Pups scoring just 13 points, a season low for a half, and shooting a frigid 20.7 percent from the field. At one point, Stony Brook held NU scoreless for ridiculous 8:24.
NU started the game 1-14 from the field with seven turnovers in that stretch before a Cornellius Wright slam seemed to slow the bleeding. Jose Juan Barea had just four of his team-high 19 points in the first half, and that seemed to be the problem. When the five-time America East Rookie of the Week started to take control in the second half the Huskies started to make this game interesting. Jose came out of the locker room with what seemed to be a personal vendetta against Stony Brook guard Bobby Santiago. Barea took him to the hole countless times and hit his one trey of the night directly in Santiago’s eyeball.
Barea’s fire began to spread amongst his teammates as the Huskies outscored the Seawolves 47-39 in the second half to make this a respectable loss, if you believe in that kind of thing.
“I think we had our biggest positive and our biggest negative of the season in this game,” Everhart said. “The last couple minutes of the first half were definitely the negative, because we really let our offensive woes affect our defense. And the way we came out and really fought in the second half is the positive.”
Sophomore Aaron Davis had 17 points in the losing effort.
Bottom line, the team has had to deal with injuries. The lack of depth could have sunk the boat when Sylbrin Robinson and Jesse Dunn went down, but with the solid play of players like junior Derrell Keys and freshman Gene Oliynyk the Huskies have found a way to keep this season afloat.
The Dogs travel to Orono Wednesday to face the 6-5 Maine Black Bears, who beat NU 90-76 back on Jan. 15. On Feb. 15 the Huskies return home to face Vermont at 1 p.m.
