BOSTON — After making a school record 40 free throws, the Northeastern men's basketball team (4-5) picked up an 81-68 win over the Old Dominion Monarchs (3-4) at Matthews Arena Saturday afternoon. Graduate student
Luka Sakota paced the Huskies in both points (18) and free throws made (11) as Northeastern won its first home game back since Nov. 6.
Northeastern broke the school record in free throw attempts with 51, breaking the previous record of 49, as well as the free throws made record, which was previously 39. That record had stood since March 7, 1985, when the Huskies played Siena. Sakota (11 FT made) and sophomore
Harold Woods (10 FT made) both had career-highs in free throws made.
After taking a 13-point lead early in the second half, the Huskies allowed the Monarchs to creep back into the contest and were up by just four points with 3:36 to play. A four-point play from sophomore
Masai Troutman doubled the Northeastern lead and
Chris Doherty added three more points to extend the lead to 77-66. Northeastern closed out their sixth all-time win over the Monarchs with an 11-2 run over the final 2:14.
Five Husky scorers finished in double figures, with Troutman (14 points), sophomore
Harold Woods (14 points), sophomore
Jared Turner (14 points) and graduate student
Chris Doherty (11 points) all eclipsing the 10-point mark. Turner and Woods both tied for the team high in rebounds with seven apiece.
Northeastern shot 27 of its 51 free throws in the second half, hitting at a mark of 93% while making just seven field goals and outscoring the Monarchs 41-35. After Doherty opened the second half with a made layup, the next 12 points Northeastern scored came off free throws.
While the second half was all Huskies, the first half featured nine lead changes, with the Monarchs taking a 14-7 lead just under six minutes into the game. The Huskies chipped away, getting stops and forcing the Monarchs to turn the ball over seven times. Northeastern went on a 12-4 run to close the half, taking the lead off a Turner triple with 4:46 to play in the period and never looking back.
Next, the Huskies stay home for their third and final home non-conference matchup, taking on Vermont Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. That game will be streaming on FloSports and NESN.
