CAA Men’s Basketball Recap – Jan. 19
Monmouth 81, Northeastern 68
Box Score
A second-half shooting frenzy from behind the arc, highlighted by seven 3-pointers from Justin Ray in the final 20 minutes alone, propelled Monmouth (9-10, 3-3 CAA) to an 81-68 win over Northeastern (6-12, 2-5 CAA). The sophomore guard posted a career-high 27 points, all in the second half, to go with five boards, four assists and two steals. His seven triples in the second half were the most in the final 20 minutes of a CAA conference game since the Huskies’ Jordan Roland hit seven treys against Hofstra on Jan. 9, 2020. Jason Rivera-Torres chipped in a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double, finishing with four assists and three steals in the win. Andrew Ball notched 11 points, six boards and a pair of swipes in 28 minutes off the bench.
After an early bucket from the Hawks, Northeastern surged out to a 12-0 run behind a layup by Peter Pinter, consecutive treys from Mike Loughnane and four straight free throws by Luca Soroa Schaller to take a 10-point lead, 12-2, with 15:33 to play in the opening frame. Monmouth quickly slashed its deficit in half over the next 53 seconds, watching Jack Collins hit a triple and Ball finish at the rim to make it a 12-7 game. The two teams went back and forth until the Hawks capitalized on Ball’s ability to get to the rim, sparking a 14-5 run that gave the home team a 22-21 lead with 7:38 remaining. The Huskies quickly retaliated with an 11-point spurt, capped off by a Liam Koelsch slam to make it a double-digit advantage, 32-22, with under four minutes to play in the first half. Northeastern took a 38-30 lead into the break and held the Hawks to a 1-for-13 clip from behind the arc.
Monmouth came out firing from distance to start the second half, connecting on eight of its first 10 attempts from deep. The Hawks’ Ray capitalized on six of those triples to give the Hawks a 61-53 edge with 10:33 left. Monmouth stayed hot and rattled off 12 straight points to take a 70-53 lead with 6:16 to play after watching Ray hit his seventh 3-pointer of the half, followed by a pair of makes from Rivera-Torres. The Hawks kept the Huskies at bay down the stretch before holding on for the 13-point victory. Northeastern’s Loughnane led the visitors with 15 points, while Xavier Abreu chipped in 11 points of his own. William Kermoury and Soroa Schaller rounded out those in double figures with 11 and 10 points apiece, respectively, each pulling down five rebounds in the contest.
Towson 59, Drexel 58
Box Score
Towson (11-9, 3-4 CAA) erased a 17-point deficit to pick up its fourth consecutive win, 59-58, over Drexel (9-11, 3-4 CAA). Dylan Williamson led the second-half comeback, scoring all 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting and a pair of triples in the final 20 minutes. Tyler Tejada led the Tigers with 14 points, chipping in five boards across 37 minutes of action. Jaquan Womack flirted with a double-double after notching 10 points, nine boards and three steals. Towson also jumped out to a three-game winning streak following the victory.
The Dragons and the Tigers traded five ties in the opening nine minutes of the contest. Drexel started to pick up the pace and utilized 17 unanswered points, seeing Victor Panov and Shane Blakeney knock down treys and Garfield Turner with a slam to take a 30-13 lead with 3:57 remaining. The Dragons also held Towson to an 18.5% shooting clip in the first half and allowed just one made field goal for over the final 11 minutes of action en route to a 32-20 lead at the intermission. Blakeney led all scorers with 12 points in the opening frame.
The two programs exchanged blows to open the second half. Williamson sparked Towson’s offense by hitting a pair of 3-pointers and scoring eight points in total on the Tigers’ 16-7 run, bringing his team to within four, 44-40, with 10:42 to play in regulation. It stayed a two-possession game until Panov finished in close to reclaim an eight-point cushion, 52-44, with 5:29 to play. Towson worked its way back to make it a one-possession contest, 56-54, with 90 seconds to go, watching Tyler Tejada spark a 6-0 spurt with four points on the stretch. With less than a minute remaining, the Tigers’ Womack muscled through traffic for the putback finish and completed the three-point play to make it a one-point game, 58-57. Towson’s Jack Doumbia came up clutch in the final 10 seconds, hitting a pair of free throws to take the lead, followed by a crucial block on Kevon Vanderhorst that eventually sealed the 59-58 victory. Drexel’s Blakeney posted a game-high 16 points, while Vanderhorst and Panov chipped in 11 and 10 points apiece, respectively.
Hampton 82, N.C. A&T 61
Box Score
Hampton (9-10, 3-3 CAA) picked up its 10
th consecutive win at home with an 82-61 victory over North Carolina A&T (7-10, 0-6 CAA). The Pirates’ bench tallied 57 of the team’s 82 points on the evening, led by Jalyke Gaines-Wyatt. The junior guard racked up 24 points on 8-for-17 shooting from the floor and 7-for-9 from the charity stripe, adding five assists and four rebounds. Michael Eley also knocked down eight shots en route to an 18-point showing in reserve.
The Aggies jumped out to an 8-0 lead following a layup by Amadou Doumbia and back-to-back triples from Trent Middleton Jr., just 75 seconds into the contest. N.C. A&T bumped its lead to double digits, 22-11, with a seven-point spurt as Zamoku Weluche-Ume capped off the run with the midrange finish. The Pirates worked their way back with a 14-5 stretch as Xzavier Long drained a fadeaway at the top of the key to make it a two-point game, 27-25, with eight minutes to play. After a Dwayne Pierce 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, the Pirates rattled off 13 straight points to claim their first lead of the game, 38-30, at the under-four media timeout. Hampton secured a nine-point cushion, 43-34, entering the intermission after Eley hit a triple before time expired.
The Pirates and Aggies locked in defensively as the two teams limited the scoring over the first five minutes of the frame. N.C. A&T slashed its deficit down to eight, 47-39, with 14:07 to play after a pair of free throws from Weluche-Ume and a floater from Middleton. The Pirates regained a double-digit advantage, 57-43, and never looked back as Josh Ogundale completed a traditional three-point play with 11:30 to play. Gaines-Wyatt scored 13 of his 24 points in the second half alone, helping Hampton grow its lead to as many as 23 and closing the game on a 14-5 run. The Aggies’ Pierce notched a team-best 16 points with three of his five makes coming from distance. Middleton posted 14 points, three boards, two assists and a pair of steals. Weluche-Ume rounded out those in double figures with 10 points.