Northeastern nets key CAA victory
The Northeastern Huskies are chasing a favorable seeding in the upcoming CAA tournament from an unfavorable position in the standings.
The Huskies made a leap toward their goal with a convincing 69-57 victory over William & Mary on Saturday on Senior Day at Matthews Arena. The Huskies improved to 10-17 and 6-10 in the CAA, avenging a 69-66 loss at William & Mary on Jan. 5 and taking a 19-17 lead in the series.
“I am pleased with the result but most importantly it is Senior Day, which is an extremely important day in our program,” said NU head coach Bill Coen, who notched his 181st CAA victory, two short of the record set by George Mason’s Jim Larranaga.
Northeastern was one of five CAA teams that entered the weekend at 5-10 in conference play, causing a logjam of hope in the bottom half of the standings.
NU joined the CAA’s gang of five and snapped a mind-boggling sevengame losing streak with a 77-62 win over Monmouth on Thursday night at Matthews. William & Mary also entered the game as one of the five by fives.
The Huskies close out the season on the road at Drexel and Hofstra. The Jersey Mike’s CAA tournament begins on March 3 at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington, D.C.
“Good luck with the tiebreakers, everybody seems to have the same record and I can’t tell who is in what position,” said Coen. “For us, we are just focused on the win today and the best thing we can do is win basketball games.
“There are a lot of really good players in this league and really good coaches so every night is a challenge. We have one more weekend to go and see if we can make something happen.”
NU shot 47.4% from the field with eight 3-points shots, 34 rebounds and 18 assists to 12 turnovers. Junior guard Jahmyl Telfort led the way with 28 points while Jared Turner netted 10. Chris Doherty of Marlboro, the lone senior on the roster, scored eight points with four rebounds.
“He (Telfort) was a calming influence because we have a really young team,” said Coen. “He was able to step up and settled down our lineup.”
Northeastern opened the game with a 16-2 run fueled by defense, rebounding and quality shot selection. Telfort led the surge with eight points highlighted by a rainbow fallaway jumper in the paint.
The Tribe enjoyed a brief spurt that cut the lead to nine. The Huskies regrouped when Doherty sandwiched a jump hook off the glass with a reverse layup on the baseline to go up 29-12 into the third media timeout. NU closed out the half with a 10-4 run to go up 45-25 at the break.
“I thought early on we set the tone with our defense and rebounding in the first half,” said Coen. “We took better care of the basketball with 12 turnovers, which has been an Achilles heel for us.”
The second half was a slightly more competitive replay of the first with the Huskies diligently maintaining their double-digit advantage. Telfort sealed the deal with a pair of 3-balls to give NU a 69-51 lead with 2:06 to play.