BOSTON – They almost let it get away. It was so close to being another tough loss in Boston, and a second straight excruciating one, against Northeastern.
Then Eli Pemberton drove left. He’s done that a few times in his career, having scored well over 1,600 points. He went down earlier in the game and was slow to get up, having sprained the same ankle a week earlier, but never came out. He had a good night up to that point, with 22 points on 9-15 shooting all the same. He got around a defender, went up with his left hand, and the ball dropped through with less than a second to go.
The Pride salvaged the game and left Boston with a win.
“We had to win twice,” said head coach Joe Mihalich.
Pemberton was the hero, and a deserving one, and he’s among the conference’s best players. The guy who set the stage for it was Desure Buie, the senior who has emerged as the lead actor, following in the footsteps of his best friend, Justin Wright-Foreman, who did so the last two years as the CAA Player of the Year. Buie is making his own case for it, and although he’s put up big numbers of late like Wright-Foreman used to, his case will go beyond the numbers.
A case in point was on Thursday night. Hofstra was off and running against Northeastern, getting just about anything they wanted offensively in the first half. They had a 40-24 lead at the breaking, scoring as many points in the paint as the Huskies had in total and taking advantage of 11 Northeastern turnovers. In less than three minutes to start the second half, however, the Huskies cut the lead in half as Jordan Roland got going. That’s when Buie went to work as well, little by little.
He hit a jumper to push the lead back to 10, ending a personal 8-0 run by Roland. As the Huskies got within five later on, he found Pemberton for a layup, then they got within four shortly thereafter, at which point he hit another jumper to give a little more distance. The Huskies then took the lead for the first time all game, but rather than let it be a psychological blow, the teams traded misses before Buie got a transition layup for them to regain the lead. With over three minutes left and the Huskies back on top by one, he nearly lost the ball, but recovered and hit a three-pointer that gave them the lead for good. Then, up one with over a minute to go, he hit a jumper as the shot clock expired.
When they needed a big shot, he was there to make it or find someone like Pemberton (he had four assists on the night). He scored 14 of his 23 points in the second half on 5-9 shooting.
“He’s a winner. There’s no moment too big for him,” Miahlich said of Buie. “He wants to take those big shots. He’s got incredible confidence right now.”
The reigning CAA Defensive Player of the Year also made a big leap offensively last year, and he’s made another this season. He had 35 points in their win at Towson, then topped that with 44 against Elon just a few days later. Currently working on a master’s degree in higher education leadership and policy studies, he is also seventh all-time at the school in career assists.
Pemberton’s game-winner also launched him into the top ten all-time in scoring at the school. It’s an impressive enough feat on its own, but considering he has never really been the clear go-to guy, even more impressive. It means he’s found a way to thrive alongside other stars and deliver when his number has been called.
“Good for him, I’m happy for him, he’s a tough kid, too,” said Mihalich. “There are some great scorers there. He quietly became an all-time top ten scorer. I’m real proud of him for doing that.”
Hofstra came away with the win, and they will only get credit for one win, much as they made it harder on themselves. They had two senior guards who did much of the work to make that happen, to make sure they didn’t leave town with another tough loss to the Huskies. And for now, it is the Pride, not the Huskies, who can keep pace with William & Mary and College of Charleston in the CAA race.
