MONCTON, CANADA — Occasionally, you have to be a cockroach to withstand the landscape of mid-major college basketball.
They say that cockroaches are one of the only animals capable of surviving a nuclear bomb; how that’s possible for such a small, unsightly animal is beyond me, but that’s besides the point. Good mid-major basketball programs are similar – whether it’s last-minute international trips, strange injuries, or a formerly ineligible player randomly regaining eligibility moments before a game – the best college programs are those that take things in stride.
Saturday night was a perfect example of this phenomenon; for months, the Huskies’ tilt with Central Connecticut State was scheduled to be played at Matthews Arena as the second half of a home-and-home from last season. But, that didn’t end up being the case; a last-minute invite to Atlantic Slam at the Avenir Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick shifted the venue for the contest 550 miles to the northeast, thrusting Northeastern into a small, foggy Canadian city, a whole new time zone, and a sliver of the international limelight.
As much as Saturday’s game was about showcasing quality college basketball north of the border, it was an opportunity for the Huskies (3-1) to build on three strong showings to open the season, punctuated by a wire-to-wire domination of Harvard on Wednesday. The Blue Devils (2-2), meanwhile, had two objectives: adding to their own impressive resume (close loss at Providence, win against Rick Pitino’s St. John’s) and avenging last season’s home defeat at the hands of these same Huskies.
Maybe the rims are bigger in Canada, or the maple syrup sweeter; whatever the reasoning, both teams came out of the gates firing on all cylinders. Neither side opened a lead larger than two over the first five minutes, trading two-point baskets before three free throws from William Kermoury gave Northeastern a 15-12 advantage. That didn’t last, though; a lightning-quick, 5-0 response returned the lead to the Blue Devils with 12:41 to play in the first half. Just over seven minutes in, this one had all the makings of a back-and-forth, cross-border classic.
The makings wouldn’t quite become reality – that lead would be Central Connecticut’s last of the evening. A six-minute, 18-4 run which featured back-to-back JB Frankel threes shot the Huskies out to a 33-21 advantage, before CCSU’s Joe Ostrowsky embarked on a personal 5-0 spurt to pull his Devils within seven at 33-26.
Seven points was as close as this one got.
With 4:46 to play in the half, a Rashad King three coupled with swarming, aggressive defense sparked a 15-0 avalanche for which Central Connecticut had no answers. To make matters worse for the Devils, when they finally did find an answer (a Jayden Brown midrange with 0:33 on the clock), King punched back, bookending a 17-2 flurry with a high-arcing layup that fell through the net as the buzzer sounded. When the dust settled, the scoreboard showed a startling story: Northeastern 50, Central Connecticut 28.
If it wasn’t already, the second half began with the Huskies looking to really get the game out of hand. An 8-2 blitz spurred by Harold Woods’s first two threes of the season opened the frame, and what was once a two-point Blue Devil lead had very quickly turned into a 28-point Northeastern domination with 18 minutes still between the game and what looked like its merciful end.
Yes, it feels like we say this every game, but the Huskies have earned themselves a penchant for blowing leads in remarkable fashion over the past few years. Long, confusing stretches of offensive ineptitude have often opened the door for once-dead competition to rouse itself and live to fight another day.
It would’ve been understandable for the thoroughly beaten Devils to lay down and accept defeat, trailing by 28 points nearly 650 miles from home. But for whatever reason, against Northeastern, opponents have a way of clawing back. And claw back they did, brandishing a 3-2 zone defensively and riding Jayden Brown and James Jones offensively to an 18-0 tsunami over nine long minutes to transform what had just been a laugher into a suddenly competitive game with a touch under ten minutes remaining.
The nice thing about building a 28-point lead, though? It’s really, really difficult to blow that, even after you let your opponent rip off 18 straight. And, to their credit, the Huskies collectively steeled themselves. The margin stayed at ten for a few moments, with Kermoury keeping Northeastern afloat, before King once again orchestrated a run, this time bookending a 13-0 torrent that restored the Husky lead to 23 with 1:08 to play. It was all window-dressing from there, and when the final buzzer sounded seconds later, Northeastern’s trip to Canada ended in a 80-62 win.
Saturday marked the fourth consecutive strong showing for the Huskies, who improved to 3-1 on the young season. Once again, it was a completely different player leading the way; this time, it was King earning that distinction, posting a career-high 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting to go along with three assists and four rebounds, earning the Atlantic Slam MVP award in the process.
“[King] played a very mature game,” remarked head coach Bill Coen. “When we struggled a little bit in the second half, he came up with big plays to settle us down… he’s put in a tremendous amount of time, and I think that’s a product of all his hard work.”
Elsewhere, Woods and Kermoury played instrumental roles on both ends. The former notched yet another double-double, recording 26 points (11-of-16 FG) and a game-high 10 rebounds (all while guarding the 6’8” Brown), while the latter struggled from the field (4-of-12), but made a couple big shots and played superb defense en route to a 13-point performance that had impact far beyond the box score.
“Just an unselfish player,” Coen said of Woods. “He makes gritty plays for us, we need that, he gives us that versatility on the offensive end… today he made his threes, so that’s an added bonus.”
Neither Alex Nwagha or Collin Metcalf contributed much on the stat sheet, but the forward pair did play excellent defense, combining for four blocks and a number of deterrences. Nwagha did exit midway through the second half with a left ankle injury, and did not put any weight on the ankle as he hobbled to the sidelines. He remained on the bench, however, and appeared to be in good spirits as the game concluded.
For CCSU, Brown led the way with 15, while Darin Smith Jr. and Jordan Jones chipped in with 11 each. It was a pedestrian night for Jones, who entered averaging north of 14 points per game, but the 6’0” senior was unable to find much space against a stifling Northeastern defense. Outside those three, freshman forward James Jones played 24 impressive minutes off the bench, and senior guard Joe Ostrowsky tallied eight points on 3-of-7 shooting.
Encouraging signs came in abundance for the Huskies, who racked up a whopping 50 points in the first half. Outside of the star performances, the team shot 53% from the floor and 100% from the free throw line, while outdoing the Blue Devils in paint points, fastbreak points, rebounds, and assists. Finally, and perhaps most welcome for Coen, Northeastern limited themselves to just 12 turnovers – a mark which you’d like to see tick lower, but is an improvement over what it has been and what it can be.
In other good news, Saturday was Coen’s 570th game at the helm; the win moved his record to 285-285 all-time, a staggering record, and one that he’ll surely be looking to build on moving forward.
He’d certainly like to have Masai Troutman and Youri Fritz at his disposal in that quest; both players missed out through injury, and were classified by Coen as “week-to-week, but inching closer” to a return. Nwagha was the latest to fall victim to the injury bug, and his status remains up in the air.
“[Nwagha] tweaked his ankle, [that’s] something that’s been reoccurring for him.” Coen said. “We’ll see how the week goes, how he progresses [ahead of Friday’s game against FIU].”
Health will no doubt be instrumental going forward, with those three key players at legitimate risk of missing out on this weekend’s trip to Florida for a three-game set, but for the time being, the Huskies have every right to be satisfied with their early-season returns.
Another challenge awaits on Friday, but first, an eight-hour bus ride back to Boston will no doubt be sweeter with the maple-tinged taste of victory.
Northeastern will be back in action starting Friday in Fort Myers, Florida for a three-game weekend series against FIU, FGCU, and Cal State Bakersfield. Tip-offs are set for 1 p.m., 1 p.m., and 12 p.m. respectively. WRBB will have written coverage provided on our website.