Coming off back-to-back losses, Northeastern traveled south to TU Arena for a Thursday night clash with second-place Towson. It was an opportunity for revenge for the Tigers, who lost to Northeastern in Boston earlier this season, despite the rather large gap in the CAA standings.
Towson entered the night on a seventeen-game home win streak and a four-game win streak overall. Their last league loss was in fact the away loss at Northeastern, creating an interesting subplot for Thursday’s game.
But despite a promising start for the Huskies in the rematch, in the end, their season-long woes closing out second-half leads returned in an 83-76 defeat.
Northeastern, at times, looked poised to snap both of those aforementioned streaks. Led by sophomore guard Harold Woods and graduate forward Chris Doherty, they built a 15 point lead at the 5:34 mark of the first half. An extended Towson run cut the lead to seven at halftime, but the game still felt as though it was tilted in Northeastern’s favor. The Huskies shot 46% from three-point range in the first half, while Towson shot just 33%.
Northeastern jumped out to a 6-0 lead at the outset, forcing Towson coach Pat Skerry to call a timeout less than two minutes into the game. The rest of the first half trended in that direction, with Towson looking sloppy and Northeastern taking advantage. Sophomore guard Jared Turner chipped in with seven first-half points, but stellar play from Towson’s Chris May and Charles Thompson kept the Tigers within striking distance.
Towson opened the second half much better, using a bevy of Northeastern turnovers to tie the game at 47 just five minutes into the period. From there, the Tigers showed why they’ve been so dominant at home, going on a 15-3 run to stretch the lead to twelve with 8:33 to play. Northeastern dug in from there and got to within four, but their efforts weren’t enough. Towson got virtually whatever they wanted offensively, and made their free throws en route to an 83-76 victory, extending their win streak.
Tigers freshman Dylan Williamson poured in a career-high 26 points for the Tigers, with 23 coming in that big second half. The guard played 28 minutes off the bench, shooting 8-13 and making all five of his free throws to go along with two rebounds, four assists, and two steals. On the opposite side of the court, Harold Woods had a season-high 25 for Northeastern, who were without starters Luka Sakota and Joe Pridgen, the latter of whom is no longer with the team due to personal reasons.
It’s hard to win a game in which you lose both the turnover and three-point battle, and Northeastern was unable to overcome that Thursday.
“[I was] proud of the way we fought back,” said Towson head coach Pat Skerry when asked about his team’s second half performance. “[Northeastern’s a] well-coached, tough team.”
Northeastern will look for more from sophomore guard Rashad King, who shot just 1-7 in the contest. They’ll hope to get a better showing from King and their defense when their road trip continues at Stony Brook on Saturday. For Towson, they’ll play at Hofstra on Saturday before defending their home win streak against Delaware and Elon in the following week. The Huskies will also hope to get Sakota back, before too much of the season goes by the wayside.
The Huskies travel to Stony Brook to avenge a home loss Saturday night. Tip-off is at 6:30 p.m.