‘ Saturday, Jan. 17 the men’s basketball team visited Hofstra, where the students were either taking their winter break, or doing their best imitation of Boston College fans during the Hockey East Tournament. (Translation: the arena had less life than Brett Favre’s right arm.) Despite the home-court dis-advantage at the Mack Sports Complex, Hofstra managed to stay close to the Huskies, who had clubbed the Pride only 12 days earlier at Matthews Arena.
The Huskies had opened that game (Jan. 5) with an 11-0 run, and went on to win by 23 points. It was the kind of day where head coach Bill Coen could roll out a guy like junior guard Brian McDonald, who averages 1.3 minutes per game, and listen to the fans yell at him to shoot every time he touches the ball.
Before Saturday’s re-match in Hempstead, NY, Northeastern had already begun to promote their next home game, which paired the only two unbeaten teams remaining in the Colonial Athletic Association, the Huskies and the Patriots of George Mason University. That game would take place four days after the Huskies played Hofstra.
So the Huskies traveled south to face a seemingly inferior opponent with a highly-anticipated game looming. Coach Coen might as well have prepared his team by showing them the clip from Return of the Jedi when Admiral Ackbar yells, ‘It’s a trap!’
The Pride did take an early lead, but Northeastern scored the last eight points of the first half, and went into the locker room with a 29-26 lead. It looked as though the Huskies may have smelled it, they may have even been tempted, but they would not take the bait; they would avoid the snare, and fulfill the promise of their awaited showdown with George Mason.
But after re-gaining the lead with 1:47 left in regulation, Northeastern fell behind again, and the Huskies trailed, 55-52, with 18 seconds to go. Prior to Jan. 17, Northeastern had not played in a game decided by less than 10 points since Dec. 10, when it defeated Harvard, 76-71 (2OT). The Huskies had won their last five conference games, dating back to Jan. 3, by an average of 17.6 points per game.
Of course, Northeastern had yet to play the better part of its conference schedule, and though it is never fair to expect an athlete or a team to be flawless, at least a few Husky basketball fans had begun to chart the path to perfection.
It was not long ago that we watched another local team chase a dream season. As the Patriots grew closer to accomplishing their goal, they seemed to lose their edge, as if the pressure had become too much, even for a team carried by its unflappable and once-overlooked on-field leader.
Needing three points to keep their fantasy afloat, Northeastern turned to its lightly-recruited on-court general, junior guard Matt Janning. He got a good look at the hoop, but Janning missed the long attempt, and senior forward Chris Alvarez could not convert after gathering the rebound. The Huskies went on to lose, 57-52.
I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing what can happen to a team that pursues perfection.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘- Jared Sugerman can be reached’
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ at [email protected].