Story by Daisy Roberts
The Huskies made the trip to Philadelphia to try and slay the Drexel Dragons but unfortunately were slain themselves. After a regrettable first half, Northeastern was down 36-16 to the home team and was unable to make a comeback, losing with a final score of 67-51. Once again, Northeastern’s scoring woes proved to be their ultimate downfall.
The only player with a positive plus/minus tonight for the Huskies was none other than Chris Doherty. Despite only playing 29 minutes, the least out of all of Northeastern’s starters, the 6’7” forward posted yet another double-double and was his team’s leading scorer, with 17 points and 12 boards, six of which were offensive. Doherty has consistently been the Huskies’ go-to player, and the same story unfolded today.
Other top scorers for Northeastern included Shaquille Walters and Nikola Djogo, who scored 13 and 12 respectively. Walters and Djogo were the only Huskies who were able to find the bottom of the net from long distance, making three triples between the two of them. Connecting from range was a general issue for the losing squad, as they went 3-15 from beyond the arc, but more specifically 0-7 in the first half.
The first half was all Dragons, all the time. For Drexel, sophomore guard Xavier Bell scored 12 in the first half and would go on to lead the Dragons in points, with 22. Bell’s speed was unmatchable by the much bigger, bulkier Northeastern team, and he was able to weave his way through defenders time and time again. 6’3” Bell paired well with the much taller 6’10” Amari Williams. Williams is usually the tallest man on the court for the Dragons, and he put his height to good use, starting the game with three blocks in the first half. As the CAA’s leading blocker by a wide margin, averaging 2.0 blocks/game, Williams’ defense was incredibly strong, completely stifling the Huskies’ offense to just 16 points that first half.
One of the other major discrepancies all game was the difference in playmaking between both teams, and that was mostly due to one player. Camren Wynter, who began the year fifth all-time in assists for Drexel, tallied seven, the most out of anyone all game. And with those seven he collected today, Wynter’s career assist total launched up to 552, taking him to third in Drexel history. A historically strong playmaker, Wynter’s passing was a major reason why Drexel’s offense was able to take off when Northeastern’s wasn’t.
The second half seemed to look like a new Huskies team. They shot 52% from the field, a stark difference from the 20% in the first. However, fouls became an issue as the clock wound down. The Huskies tallied 11 personal fouls as a team in just the second half, which took the winds out of their offensive sails. Both Doherty and fellow Husky scorer Jahmyl Telfort ended the game with four fouls, which was unfortunate considering Northeastern needed to overcome a 20-point deficit.
Ultimately, the Northeastern comeback was just too slow and too inconsistent for them to fix the mess that happened in the first half. To put it simply, if the team does not score, they won’t win. And today they were just unable to do that. The Huskies look to get back on track for the upcoming CAA tournament as they travel to play Hofstra Feb. 19.
Note: A previous version of this article listed Chris Doherty as standing 5’10”. It was corrected to 6’7″ at 2:23 on February 13th.