By: Matthew MacCormack
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Northeastern had its share of peaks of valleys in the 2016-17 season, but Saturday’s 82-54 loss to Towson to end the year may have been the low point.
The Huskies (15-16) never led on Saturday night at North Charleston Coliseum, as the No. 3 Tigers dominated the six-seeded Huskies from tip-off to final whistle. NU shot just 27% from the floor and 20% from three-point land, as the physical Tigers won the rebounding battle (42-25), and throttled Northeastern in bench-scoring (44-12).
Towson did a stellar job containing senior guard and CAA Player of the Year T.J. Williams all evening. Williams led the Huskies with 15 points, but went just 3-16 from the floor in his final collegiate game.
“I tip my hat off to them,” Williams said.
“I felt that they came with a good game plan. I tried to make some plays down the stretch to find some players on my team. We got some good looks but the shots didn’t fall.”
The Tigers (20-12) jumped out to a 15-3 lead, with Adala Moto dropping eight points in that stretch. The first-half lead ballooned to as large as 16, as the Huskies seemingly couldn’t buy a bucket.
There was some hope late in the second half, when NU cut the deficit down to 12 points off a three from Bolden Brace with 6:42 to go. After a Husky steal, a three from Jimmy Marshall rattled in-and-out, and Martin responded with a three of his own to push the lead back to 15. The game got no closer.
“We made a nice little run there,” Coen said.
“I thought Jimmy’s shot was down, but then right away they come back and bang a three. It was a little bit of a back-breaker and a dagger.”
Williams and Marshall logged their final minutes in Black and Red. Williams graduates with 1,377 career points, good enough for 15th in NU history.. His scoring output this year (642 pts) was the sixth highest single-season mark in program history.
“We knew it would be a physical game,” Williams said.
“I wish the outcome of the game would have been different, but they came ready to play.”