BOSTON- Northeastern wasn’t able to light it up from behind the arc like last time out but played well enough to earn a 64-54 win against a JMU team that had won four straight games heading into Matthews Arena.
“Every game’s not going to be like it was against Delaware on Thursday night… You have to continue to shoot with confidence and we had to continue to share the basketball and I thought we did that in the second half,” said Huskies’ head coach Bill Coen.
After a back-and-forth first ten minutes with both teams going on several runs and scoring droughts, Northeastern took the lead with just under 10 minutes left in the first half and held on comfortably for the rest of the evening.
The Dukes got within three in the second half but a three pointer near the 13-minute mark from freshman guard Bolden Brace gave the Huskies a six-point lead and they held JMU at bay keeping it at least a two-possession game the rest of the way.
“Every time we seemed to get it back where we were in fighting range, they would make a play,” said JMU head coach Louis Rowe
Nineteen turnovers didn’t help either as the Huskies were able to capitalize, scoring 17 points off JMU turnovers.
“We started turning it over out of the gate. All of that, that’s not our recipe to win,” said Rowe.
Northeastern senior point guard T.J. Williams led all scorers with 21 points as part of another night of stat-stuffing where he chipped in seven rebounds and five assists. Graduate student Alex Murphy was the only other Husky in double figures with 15 points and five rebounds.
For the Dukes senior forward Yohanny Dalembert led the way with 16 points in just 17 minutes.
For JMU, it’s their first loss in CAA play to go to 5-12 overall and 3-1 in the CAA. For the Huskies, it’s their seventh win in a row pushing their record to 11-5 (4-0 in the CAA).
“It’s game by game,” said Coen “It’s a long season…We’re 4-0, we’re grateful. But we know we have a long way to go.”
Next up for Northeastern will be the Drexel Dragons this Thursday, January 12th at 7pm in Matthews Arena. Coverage begins at 6:45pm on 104.9FM and wrbbsports.com/listenlive.