RICHMOND, Va. – There was some déjà vu. There was a team clearly learning from a year ago, as they’ve done before this season. There was a senior and his classmates who didn’t want their careers to possibly come to an early end.
Call it what you will, but any way you slice it, Northeastern wasn’t about to go home just yet.
“After we came back in regulation, I knew in the back of my head that we weren’t giving that one up,” senior guard Matt Janning said after the Huskies’ 74-71 double overtime win over Hofstra.
For a while in the second half, Saturday night’s quarterfinal looked a lot like the last meeting between these two teams. Less than two weeks earlier, Hofstra spoiled Northeastern’s Senior Night with a 73-62 win aided by a big defensive second half, especially in the final minutes as they closed the game on a 12-1 run. On Saturday, the Huskies couldn’t muster up much on the offensive end, and as they played from behind for a lot of the second half it looked all too familiar. With two minutes left in regulation, Hofstra led 52-48, a lead that almost looked insurmountable.
That’s when Janning brought the Huskies back. A driving layup with 1:26 left made it 52-50, then he stole the ball from Charles Jenkins and found Kauri Black for a layup with six seconds left, ultimately sending the game to overtime.
When Hofstra guard Chaz Williams fouled out less than 30 seconds into overtime, the momentum clearly shifted to the Huskies. But they continued to allow second shots – the Pride had 20 offensive rebounds – and they couldn’t close the deal as Cornelius Vines tied it with 14 seconds left on a three-pointer. In the second overtime, they didn’t quite put Hofstra away until the final seconds, but they clearly out-played the Pride just like in the first extra session.
“It was close, but we weren’t giving it up,” added Janning, who scored a season-high 26 points and hit the three-pointer in the second extra session that put them ahead for good.
The Huskies have at many turns looked like a team that learned from a year ago, when they struggled in February and then lost in the quarterfinals after earning a bye. This time around, the Huskies went 5-3 in February, including heart-breaking losses at William & Mary and to Louisiana Tech. They also won George Mason to close out the regular season, and now they got past the quarterfinals.
Less than two weeks ago, the Huskies couldn’t quite muster up enough against Hofstra on Senior Night. On Saturday, they were tough enough to make the plays down the stretch to win. They weren’t about to give that one away. They survived and advanced, and much like overtime gave them new life, this win gives them new life in a new game on Sunday.
