Hofstra's 'magical run' of 16 straight wins ends vs. Northeastern
BOSTON – The nation’s longest win streak ended with a thud on Saturday afternoon. Northeastern beat Hofstra, 75-61, to halt the Pride’s run at 16 games amid a hailstorm of missed shots, technical fouls and frustration.
Hofstra (19-4, 9-1 CAA) entered the day as one of the best stories in college basketball, as it hadn’t lost a game since falling in overtime at Virginia Commonwealth on Nov. 24. Along the way, star guard Justin Wright-Foreman emerged as one of the most explosive and exciting players in the country, the nation’s No. 3 leading scorer at 26 points per game.
Hofstra ran into a formidable opponent and slogged through a languid day while logging just three assists. Northeastern held Wright-Foreman to 15 points on 5-for-14 shooting, with primary defender Donnell Gresham shutting him down for long stretches. Northeastern star guard Vasa Pusica led the Huskies with 24 points on just 12 shots and added eight rebounds. Greshman added 18 points to his stout defensive effort, helping insert Northeastern (13-9, 7-3) back into the CAA title race.
“The right thing happened,” Hofstra coach Joe Mihalich said. “They deserved to win.”
Mihalich was appreciative of the 16-game streak, which led to a wave of positive publicity for the program, established Wright-Foreman as a household star and nudged Hofstra to the NCAA tournament bubble conversation. Even at 19-4, however, Hofstra has no Quad 1 or 2 victories, which could make an at-large bid a reach.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our guys,” Mihalich said. “It was a magical run. The longest win streak in the country. If you’d have told me, ‘In the next 17 games you’ll go 16-1,’ who wouldn’t have raised their hand for that?”
Mihalich said he and his staff will likely spend the bus ride home discussing their decision to essentially sit Wright-Foreman for the final 7:52 of the first half. Mihalich said that’s his standard practice, but Hofstra ended up going into halftime down eight points, 37-29, after a botched layup led to a pair of late Northeastern free throws.
“It’s something tonight when I’m looking at the ceiling at 3 a.m., I’ll wonder if we shouldn’t have let Justin play with two fouls in the first half,” he said.
Mihalich ended up with a technical for arguing with the officials in the game’s final minutes, joking after that he didn’t want his other star guard, Eli Pemberton, to get the last one on the day for the Pride. (Pemberton got one earlier in a second half where Hofstra trailed by as many as 21.)
Northeastern coach Bill Coen gambled with his star, Pusica, who picked up his second foul near the eight-minute mark of the first half but managed to navigate his way out of foul trouble. Coen joked: “Vasa can count to five.” After navigating some injury adversity, Northeastern looked every bit the part of the CAA preseason favorite on Saturday.
That leaves the nation’s longest win streak with Tennessee. The Vols have won 15 consecutive games and play at Texas A&M on Saturday night with a chance to extend it to 16.
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