Las Vegas, Nev. – The Husson University men's basketball team outscored Whittier College 49-25 in the second half to pick up an 85-71 victory over the Poets to close out Husson's participation in the 2023 D3hoops.com Classic at South Point Arena on Friday evening.
Husson (11-1) once again took control of the game quickly, as it didn't trail for the first 12 and a half minutes of action and opened up its largest lead of the half when sophomore Eric Ahlers connected on his lone basket of the game to give the Eagles a 25-17 edge. Whittier (2-9) was quick to counter, as it responded with a 10-0 run to take its first lead of the game and with the score at 34-apiece and just 3:56 on the clock, the Poets would close the opening 20 minutes on a 12-2 spurt to take a 46-36 lead into the halftime intermission.
Junior Riles Neff paced a balanced scoring attack in the opening half for Husson, which saw each starter record at least two made field goals in the frame. Neff finished the first half of play with nine points, while senior backcourt mate Jeremy Moronta poured in six points of his own, in addition to hauling in seven rebounds and handing out five assists.
Turnovers plagued the Eagles in the first half, as they gave the ball away nine times in the first half, which led to 10 points for the Poets. Husson's hot three-point shooting in its opening game of the Classic didn't translate over to the first half of play, as it managed to connect on just four of its 13 three-point attempts.
After facing their largest deficit of the season so far, with the score at 52-38 in favor of Whittier, the Eagles put together an 18-4 run, which was orchestrated by Neff, who scored or assisted on 14 of the 18 Husson points during the stretch to knot the score up at 56-56.
After the lead would change possession a handful of times over the next three-plus minutes, the Eagles would take control of the game for good, as a 14-2 run gave Husson a 75-63 advantage with just over five minutes remaining. The Eagles were able to keep Whittier at an arm's distance for the remainder of the contest and earn their second win over a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference school in as many days.
Neff finished off his second 30-point performance in the green and gold, after he erupted for 21 second-half points, to lead the Husson scoring attack. Neff also concluded his evening with nine rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks. To solidify his masterful, on-court performance, Neff was named to the all-tournament team for the 2023 D3hoops.com Classic.
Freshman Andre McCauley and senior Scott Lewis also had big second stanzas for the Eagles, as the trio of Neff, McCauley and Lewis combined to score 44 of Husson's 49 second half points. McCauley and Lewis each finished their evenings with 15 points, while McCauley recorded two steals. Moronta finished off a quiet, yet efficient offensive performance, as he tallied nine points on 3-4 shooting, but he managed to set a new career-high in rebounds with 14, in addition to handing out eight assists.
The Eagles finished just over 48% from the floor as a team on the evening and knocked down a high percentage of their free throws, finishing 19-23 from the line. Husson held true to its top 10 ranking in all of Division III for field goal percentage defense, as it limited the Poets to just 35.9% shooting from the floor, including 26% in the second half.
Husson will return to the Pine Tree State and will begin the new year with a stretch of four-straight road, North Atlantic Conference games, starting with its second matchup of the season with rival Maine Maritime Academy. Tip-off for this road, conference affair is set for 4 p.m. on Jan. 6.
