Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming freshman Afam Muojeke drives on a Northeastern player on Tuesday.
by Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
From Boston to Laramie and opening the College Basketball Invitational in less than 48 hours, you couldn't blame the Northeastern Huskies for being a little slow on Tuesday night.
But it was the Huskies who left the home-standing Cowboys a little dazed and confused, as they surprised Wyoming 64-62 in the first round of the tournament in the Arena-Auditorium.
Losing six of their previous nine games, Northeastern, 19-12, opened Tuesday with a different attitude from start to end.
“We had not been playing all that well towards the end of the season, and when we were selected, I think it was just a relief for the guys to get another chance,” Northeastern coach Bill Coen said. “We played with a particular energy that you need to be successful. We were able to execute and knock down some shots and gain some confidence early. I thought that was the key.”
Wyoming, 19-14, struggled early and the Huskies took advantage by running out to a 21-8 lead 11 minutes into the game.
“We hit some shots early and gained a lot of confidence,” Coen said.
Guard Matt Janning, who led the Huskies with 20 points, said they wanted to get off to a good start after their recent struggles.
“We wanted to put it on right away and see what we could do from there,” Janning said. “We had guys step up tonight.”
The Cowboys, who were led senior Brandon Ewing’s 22 points, came back to cut the Northeastern lead to 32-28 at halftime.
Wyoming took its first lead at the 10:55 mark on two free throws by freshman Afam Muojeke. But Northeastern’s Allen Chaisson answered with three straight 3-pointers and the Huskies led by as much as eight before Ewing scored six points in the final 20 seconds, including a 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left.
Allen finished with 16 points, with Nkem Ojougboh adding 11 and Eugene Spates 10 for the Huskies, who will play UTEP on Monday. The Miners edged Nevada 79-77 on Tuesday.
Winning away from home has not been uncommon for the Huskies, who earned road wins at Profidence, Indiana and Virginia Commonwealth this season.
“We were comfortable playing away from home,” Coen said. “I kind of attribute that to we took a foreign trip and went up to Canada over the summer an were able to win six game son the road. That kind of set the tone for our guys, they are comfortable playing on the road. Home teams are going to make a run, but it is really how you respond to those runs that will make a difference.”
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