BOSTON — When graduate student forward Haris Elezovic drained a jumper to level the score at 52 apiece, Cabot Center roared as the Huskies drew level for the first time since tip-off. But when the final buzzer sounded, Northeastern dribbled out the clock in defeat, falling 95-80 to CAA foe Stony Brook in a spirited but ultimately insufficient effort reflective of the Huskies’ season so far.
The two teams exchanged three-point bids in the game’s opening moments, with the Seawolves jumping out to a 6-3 lead behind two straight triples from freshman guard Andrej Shoshkikj. Stony Brook entered Thursday’s contest averaging the most three-point attempts of any team in the conference, posting 26.9 shots per game from beyond the arc.
The Seawolves’ early success from downtown gave Northeastern a preview of the first half to come, as the Huskies defense struggled through an opening frame that saw ten of Stony Brook’s 14 long-distance efforts shuffle the strings, with Shoshkikj surpassing double digits in scoring.
The besieged Huskies struggled to take advantage of their own early possessions, falling behind by as many as 16 points in the first half. While Northeastern struggled to penetrate Stony Brook’s perimeter defense, the Seawolves took advantage and continued to cash in from three.
Unable to meaningfully chip away at the deficit, Northeastern could only employ a call-and-response offensive game that prevented Stony Brook from pulling away in the game’s early phases. The Huskies trailed by double digits for nearly 10 minutes in the first half, erased only when Xavier Abreu snatched a half-court steal and capped off the eventual and-one effort with 1:44 to play in the opening stanza.
“I couldn’t fault our effort,” said Northeastern head coach Bill Coen. “We played extremely hard, but I think we ran into a team that made a ton of shots; they got comfortable very quickly.”
The Huskies salvaged a slow offensive half with a late scoring surge, completing an 11-3 run in the final 2:48 to pull within seven points entering the break.
A 47-40 scoreline glowed emblazoned on the Cabot Center scoreboard; a deficit which could have been cut down to one if not for six missed free throws on nine attempts. Nonetheless, the Huskies stepped into halftime on the heels of a spirited effort that put a once-distant game into reasonable reach.
“We’ve got to keep plugging, we’ve got to keep fighting,” Coen told his team at halftime, per his post-game comments. “This team has done this all year long — they’re a resilient group [and] they’re a tough-minded group.”
Coen’s words seemed to spark sophomore guard Luca Soroa Schaller, who racked up eight points in the second half’s opening 2:30. Posted up in the corner, the second year Swiss army knife displayed his sharpshooting from range with a dagger three-pointer that cut the Stony Brook lead to 49-48.
Northeastern tied the game on three separate occasions, all of which fell within a three-minute span in the early stages of the second half. Elezovic continued his perfect free-throw record with three efforts from the line shortly after, but Stony Brook began to pull away, fueled by a second-half surge led by senior guard Erik Pratt, who finished with 31 points.
Despite a squad decimated by injuries, the Huskies produced 32 points off the bench, but struggled most significantly on the glass. Stony Brook swallowed 39 boards to the Huskies’ 27, including an offensive rebound that changed the tide of the second half.
As the Huskies clawed to remain within striking distance, Stony Brook’s Ethan Simmon snared a loose ball from the glass. Gliding to his right-hand side, the senior guard banked a layup off the window pane to extend the lead to six points and force Coen into calling a timeout in an effort to reset his team with 11:04 remaining in the contest.
The timeout didn’t halt Stony Brook’s momentum, as the Seawolves enjoyed a 12-5 run over the next three minutes. The highlight came with 8:30 to play, when freshman forward Tomas Valentiny cashed in on open real estate with a three-pointer from a vacant lot at the left wing. The deep ball extended the Stony Brook lead to 14 points, 75-61.
When the final buzzer sounded, the home crowd was already heading for the exit, having witnessed another near-miss for a hungry Northeastern team that simply hasn’t been able to fire on all cylinders.
The Huskies return to action Saturday, traveling to Philadelphia to take on CAA opponent Drexel at 2 p.m. Jordan Walsh will have the call on WRBB Sports+.
Chase Alexander is a writer and broadcaster with WRBB Sports. Check out his personal portfolio here and feel free to follow him on Linkedin and X (Twitter).