Men's #CAAHoops Recap: Dec. 28
Bill Potter
Northeastern 61, Towson 45
Tyson Walker scored a game-high 17 points, while Jordan Roland finished with 14 and Maxime Boursiquot tallied 12 to lead Northeastern over Towson (6-7, 0-1 CAA), 61-45, on Saturday at SECU Arena.
Northeastern (7-6, 1-0 CAA) won its eighth straight league opener, holding Towson (6-7, 0-1 CAA) to 17 first-half points.
Walker grabbed a season-best five rebounds and dished out four assists. Roland matched his career high with six rebounds, and Bolden Brace added eight points and a game-best eight boards. Brace moved into 44th on the Northeastern all-time scoring list with 952 points.
The last time the Huskies held an opponent under 20 points in a half was against Elon on Jan. 5, 2018, allowing 18 first-half points in that game. Northeastern limited the Tigers to just 1-of-11 from 3-point range in the game, and the Huskies went 6-for-13 (.462) in the final 20 minutes from 3-point range after going 0-for-7 in the first half.
The Huskies led for nearly 35 minutes and held 23-point lead with 8:23 left in the game. Northeastern closed out the final 12 minutes of the first half on a 17-7 run to take a 29-17 lead at the break.
Allen Betrand led Towson with 16 points, reaching double figures for the ninth time in 13 games. Bertrand scored 10 of his points in the second half and is averaging 17 points over Towson's last two games.
Charleston 76, Drexel 65
Grant Riller scored a game-high 22 points as Charleston had four players in double figures in a 76-65 road win at Drexel in both teams' Colonial Athletic Association opener on Saturday.
Charleston (7-6, 1-0 CAA) put forth one of its best offensive performances of the season, shooting a season-best 53.7 percent from the field and hitting 11-of-20 3-point attempts.
Brevin Galloway had 16 points on 4-for-7 shooting from long range, while Sam Miller and Zep Jasper added 13 and 12 points respectively.
Camren Wynter led Drexel (7-7, 0-1 CAA) with 21 points, while James Butler turned in a double-double performance in the loss with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Charleston led by as many as 16 with 7:50 left to play, but Drexel scored nine-straight points to cut the margin to seven. It got down to six, 66-60, with under three minutes to play, but Jaylen McMcManus answered with a 3-pointer and then Jasper hit another to seal the win for the Cougars.
Hofstra 82, James Madison 76
Eli Pemberton had a game-high 25 points to lead Hofstra to an 82-76 comeback win at James Madison in the teams' Colonial Athletic Association opener at the JMU Convocation Center.
Hofstra (10-4, 1-0 CAA) trailed by 13 points early in the second half before rallying and collecting the road win over James Madison (7-5, 0-1 CAA).
The Pride shot 70.8-percent from the floor in the second half to spur the rally, going 17-of-24 from the floor.
Desure Buie scored all of his 15 points in the final 20 minutes, while junior Jalen Ray posted 14 of his 18 points after intermission.
James Madison jumped out to an early 8-0 lead in the game before Hofstra responded with a 13-4 run to earn its first lead of the contest at the 13:37 mark on a pair of free throws from Ray. A 12-1 run midway through the half for the Dukes gave the home squad a 28-16 advantage with less than six minutes left.
With just over a minute until the half, Pemberton went on a 5-0 run, hitting two free throws before a running 3-pointer as the clock expired to make it 36-30 at the break. Pemberton was all over the place in the first 20 minutes with 17 points and it marked the second straight year he drained a shot to end the first half as he hit a full-court shot at the end of the first half in the last meeting between the teams in Harrisonburg last January.
James Madison opened the second half with a 9-2 burst, including back-to-back 3-pointers from Deshon Parker and Darius Banks, to open up a 45-32 advantage with 17:39 left in regulation.
Tareq Coburn responded immediately for Hofstra with a three to cut the deficit to 10 and Coburn scored four straight points three minutes later to close the gap to 47-43 with 14:05 remaining.
The JMU remained within two possessions until two free throws from Buie and a layup from Isaac Kante made it 57-55 in favor of James Madison with just under 11 minutes left. Hofstra would finally get over the hump and take the lead as Ray hit two free throws and Buie drained a pull-up jumper with 5:30 left to put the Pride in front, 68-67.
The game was knotted at 71 following a basket from Zach Jacobs before Ray gave Hofstra the lead for good with a 3-pointer at the 3:29 mark. The Pride then made six free throws in the final three minutes to capture the win in the conference opener for both teams.
Coburn finished with 15 points for Hofstra, which got eight rebounds from Eli Pemberton and six from junior Stafford Trueheart. Buie added six rebounds and four assists for the Pride.
Matt Lewis scored 22 points and added six rebounds for James Madison, which also got 17 points and eight assists from Deshon Parker.
Delaware 82, UNCW 68
Delaware put five players in double figures and knocked down 12 three-pointers as the Blue Hens cruised to an 82-68 win over UNCW in its CAA opener Saturday night at the Bob Carpenter Center.
With 10 points, Ryan Allen surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career for Delaware (11-3, 1-0 CAA). UNCW (5-9, 0-1 CAA) dropped its sixth straight game.
Nate Darling again led the way with a game-high 21 points and buried five triples, while Justyn Mutts narrowly missed a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds. Kevin Anderson contributed 11 points on the night while Allen added a career-high six assists in addition to reaching the 1,000-point mark. Dylan Painter was the fifth Blue Hen in double figures with 10 points.
Delaware shot 52.8 percent from the floor including 12-of-23 3-pointers and handed out 18 assists on 28 buckets.
The teams were tied 18-18 midway through the first half, before the Blue Hens took the lead for good with an 11-point spurt to go up 29-18 on an Anderson 3-pointer at the 5:00 mark. Delaware eventually took a 16-point advantage before settling for a 43-29 margin at the half.
The Blue Hens then opened the second period with a 9-1 run, going up 52-30 on a three-point play by Goss with 16:15 to play. Delaware extended the margin to as much as 26 points at 67-41, and although the Seahawks made a late charge, the Blue Hens never led by less than 12 the rest of the way.
Sophomore forward Marten Linssen led the Seahawks in scoring for the fourth time this season with 15 points. Sophomore guard Brian Tolefree scored 12 points and freshman point guard Shykeim Phillips contributed 10.
Jaylen Sims, UNCW's leading scorer at 14.8 points per game, was held scoreless in the first half and wound up with nine points on 3-for-11 shooting.