BOSTON – The early portion of the CAA schedule has not been kind to the Northeastern Huskies.
When the Towson Tigers came to town for Monday’s nationally-televised nightcap, it marked the fourth game out of eight in which Northeastern had squared off against a team sitting in the top four of the conference standings. Two of those four, of course, were the first-place Tigers, giving the Huskies the unlucky distinction of facing the CAA leader twice in the opening weeks of conference play.
The first meeting between the pair came three weeks ago, when Towson dispatched Northeastern 80-73 behind a breakout performance from junior guard Christian May. Despite the loss, a tightly-contested, well-played game gave the Huskies every reason to feel they could flip the script in their next rendezvous back home at Matthews Arena.
While Monday’s game produced a different storyline, it did not produce a different result. This time around, it was the Tigers’ star sophomore duo of Dylan Williamson and Tyler Tejada that sunk the Huskies, as Pat Skerry’s bunch took the lead immediately and never looked back on their way to a 75-65 win.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, it was Tejada who got the festivities underway; the presumptive All-CAA first-teamer started red-hot, scoring seven of Towson’s first nine points from all three levels of the floor. To his credit, though, a newly-healthy LA Pratt was equal to the task, scoring seven of his own to knot the game at nine at the 14:32 mark.
From there, both teams traded runs, with the Tigers stretching their lead to 11 at one point; however, Northeastern stayed in it, and a Pratt three brought the Huskies back within two with 4:44 to play. The admittedly paltry crowd at Matthews rose to their feet, trying to fuel the home side to cap off their surge with a lead.
The ensuing sequence would make a neutral’s head spin. Back-to-back mindless turnovers handed Towson’s two best players (Tejada and Williamson) wide-open threes, each of which they converted. With the lead at eight, Northeastern failed to dive on a loose ball after a block from Alex Nwagha. The rock found Williamson all alone beyond the arc, where he drained another triple to push the lead to 11.
Nwagha stuck home a miss on the following possession, but it was Williamson who ripped the Huskies’ hearts out once again, burying a deep step-back three with 43 seconds to go in the half. Rashad King missed a three on the other end, and what had been a two-point game just moments ago turned into a 12-point halftime deficit.
A 9-2 spurt to open the second half rejuvenated Northeastern, but it was Williamson once again who stepped up, converting a tough layup to stem the bleeding. Bill Coen’s guys continued to show fight, but every time they got within striking distance, Towson responded. A Nendah Tarke layup stretched the lead to 60-49 with 7:27 to play, and a dormant Huskies offense would trail by 15 by the time they converted their next field goal.
That would do it; yet another Williamson three put the finishing touches on a dominant win. Some late-game mishaps allowed Northeastern to slice the lead to eight, but the outcome was never in doubt — when the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read Towson 75, Northeastern 65.
It feels a bit like beating a dead horse, but it’s worth pointing out that turnovers were once again a glaring issue for the home team. 17 Husky turnovers gave way to 23 Towson points, and giveaways seemed to crop up whenever they pulled within striking distance. It was yet another frustrating evening in that department – one in which Northeastern ranks amongst the worst in the country – and it continues to cost them games.
There were a few bright spots; Pratt’s full return from injury saw him score 22 points, and Harold Woods notched 16 on 6-of-13. Outside of that, though, it was all ugly — Collin Metcalf and JB Frankel combined for 10 turnovers, and only one other player (Frankel) recorded more than seven points.
Towson, meanwhile, found 21 through Williamson, who got whatever he wanted all night, while Tejada neared a double-double with 18 points and 9 rebounds on a neat 8-of-11 from the floor. Tarke shone as well, notching 13 points and a game-high five steals.
“Obviously, I want to give credit to Towson… there’s a reason why they were picked number one [in the preseason CAA poll],” said Coen. “I thought they brought their A-game today…Williamson had a terrific game, Tejada made some tough shots, and you just tip your hat.”
In better news, the Huskies may be nearing full health. Per Coen, William Kermoury is back in practice, and Troutman is back in workouts. It’s tough to navigate a conference slate without your full arsenal of players, and Northeastern will certainly welcome back two of their best with open arms ahead of the season’s stretch run.
“We got to get a few more bodies here,” Coen said. “We’re very short in that regard, experienced bodies. And then, you know, we got to get better one game at a time… still a lot of time left on the schedule.”
A Monday game means a short turnaround, as the Huskies will pack up and head for Hampton to take on the Pirates in a Thursday evening showdown. WRBB will have written coverage on our website, with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. on FloSports.