Rashad King missed his first shot. Then, he missed his second shot. And his third. And his fourth.
But, as he’s done so often this season, the junior simply put his head down, dug deep, and led Northeastern to a win, by any means necessary. And, when the dust settled on the Huskies’ visit to Hofstra, it was King’s 28 points — including 22 in the second half — which ultimately guided his team to a 77-68 win.
Just as it did the last time these two teams met, the game got off to a slow start. Both squads officially broke into double digits when an Alexander Nwagha layup sliced the Pride’s early lead down to 11-10, but an ensuing offensive spurt saw both sides going neck-and-neck into the high 20s by the four-minute mark.
After a Jean Aranguren bucket handed Hofstra a 29-28 lead with 3:27 to go, the Huskies’ LA Pratt took over, setting sail on an 8-0 personal run punctuated by a buzzer-beating scoop layup. That basket gave Northeastern a 36-29 lead at the intermission, a notable feat considering the Huskies scored 37 points in the entire game when these two sides last faced off.
Northeastern built the lead to nine in the early stages of the second half, using a Harold Woods jumper to take a 40-31 advantage. But, on their home floor, the Pride whittled away, keeping the margin between four and nine before a 6-0 run finally drew them level at 56-56 with 5:16 remaining.
With the game teetering in the balance, and the Huskies on the precarious brink of falling to 4-7 in conference play, their best player came through once again. King nailed a jumper, extended the lead with another moments later, gave Northeastern insurance with a driving layup on the following possession, and capped it all off with a pullup mid-range that gave his team a commanding seven-point advantage.
In a flash, the Huskies led 66-59 with 1:25 remaining, and after Hofstra’s Cruz Davis missed a three, the visitors began to smell it. The end-game free throw shooting wasn’t perfect, but it was enough — including a faultless 6-of-6 from King — and Northeastern walked out of Hempstead with a much-needed 77-68 win.
Pratt and Woods each finished in double figures, with 14 and 10, respectively; elsewhere, sophomore William Kermoury continued his return from injury with 13 points including three important first-half threes. Center Collin Metcalf was quiet offensively, but continued his CAA Defensive Player of the Year campaign with five blocks, including multiple mammoth swats down the stretch.
In what amounts to a revelation for this bunch, the Huskies only turned the ball over 11 times, and they managed 77 points against the CAA’s best defense. While it wasn’t the prettiest offensive performance — Northeastern managed just 10 assists on 25 made field goals — it was a welcome sign for an offense that’s suffered from spells of dormancy this season.
On a more negative note, Masai Troutman and Youri Fritz missed out through injury; Troutman for the fifth-straight game, and Fritz for the first after suffering what appeared to be a sprained ankle at Elon on Saturday. Sam Thomson returned for the Huskies, though, recording 11 minutes in Fritz’s absence — and as of a week ago, there’s some indication that Troutman in particular is working his way back.
Almost more impressively, NU managed to withstand a dominant performance from the sophomore Aranguren, who scored a whopping 35 points on a hyper-efficient 9-of-13 from the floor. There wasn’t much else to be said for the rest of the Pride, though; Davis scored 18, but no other player even managed more than six.
All things considered, Thursday marked a good, impressive win — and one that teams of Husky past might’ve let slip. After a 2-1 road trip, the base is there to continue building before tournament time — which, sneakily, is right around the corner.
Northeastern will return to Matthews Arena for another big game when they host Hampton on Saturday. Tip is set for 4 p.m. with Jacob Phillips, Webb Constable, and Andrew Fielding on your call on WRBBSports+.