After a grueling 2-7 start to the season, the Northeastern Men’s Basketball team has won three in a row, including the Cable Car Classic final on Wednesday afternoon in Santa Clara, California.
Before the season began, the Northeastern Huskies were a trendy pick to win the Colonial Athletic Association. Sports Illustrated even went as far to pick Northeastern to win the conference and the automatic NCAA tournament bid. (Correct. The Sports Illustrated that some believe to jinx anybody it praises. Still, would you prefer they didn’t have good things to say about the Huskies?)
By Christmas, things were not as cheery. The Huskies started 2-7, including losses in all of their regionally or nationally televised games thus far. A trip over the Christmas holiday to Honolulu saw the Huskies lose to St. Mary’s and Western Michigan to get them to that season-low mark and extend a losing streak to five games.
Christmas Day brought the Huskies their first December win, beating Southern Methodist in the final day of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu by a score of 73-62. Up next on the slate was the Cable Car Classic in Santa Clara, California. On Tuesday, the Huskies were scheduled to take on host school Santa Clara. Defense was the key for Northeastern in the 62-50 victory, highlighted by senior center Nkem Ojougboh’s double-double (12 points, 13 rebounds) and six blocks. NU senior swingman Matt Janning led all scorers with 18 points. Janning, a Management major, was 3-5 from three point range.
The victory over Santa Clara set up a pairing with Kent State in the final of the two-day Classic. The Huskies took an eight-point lead into the half, but the Golden Flashes did not go away quietly and took the lead back from Northeastern just over six minutes into the second half. The game stayed close throughout from that point, and with a minute remaining the score was tied at 56. That was when Matt Janning hit his second three pointer in four attempts to give Northeastern the final lead. Janning finished with a game-high 16 points and was awarded the tournament MVP.
Northeastern returns to Matthews Arena on Saturday for a 4:00 pairing with James Madison. The Huskies stand at 5-7, and look to continue their win streak against a CAA opponent.
Comments