WORCESTER, Mass. – The Husson University men's basketball team couldn't overcome an early 15-point deficit and was defeated in road, non-conference action by Clark University 72-61 on Tuesday night in Massachusetts.
In a battle of two teams looking to get their records back to the .500-mark before Thanksgiving, it was Clark (3-3) who came out on the front foot.
The Cougars found the scoreboard on each of their first three possessions and immediately gathered an 8-0 lead just over a minute in.
Husson (2-4) got on the board on a three from junior Ty Henke, but Clark went on another scoring outburst, this time 11-2, pushing its lead up to 19-5.
The Eagles didn't let the lead balloon any further, as they managed to cut the deficit in half with 3:54 to play in the half on a layup from Henke.
The Cougars went into the locker room with a 12-point edge on a three-pointer at the buzzer from Ian Calabrese, leading 36-24 at the intermission.
Clark maintained a sizable edge on Husson for the beginning part of the second half, getting its lead back up to 11 with 13:55 remaining on a free throw from John Boluwasefe.
The Eagles would make their move after that point, as they would outscore the Cougars 17-7 over a seven-plus minute stretch to pull within one on a three pointer from freshman Connor Heald with just under seven minutes left.
Senior Riles Neff was a catalyst for Husson during its run, scoring seven points during the stretch, while the Eagles made three shots from beyond the arc during the frame.
Clark had an answer for the Husson run, as it used an 18-8 run over the final part of the game to pull back away from the Eagles and wrap up the win.
Neff paced the Eagles offensively with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while shooting 7-7 from the foul line. Graduate student Jeremy Moronta and Henke also scored in double-figures with 12 and 10 respectively.
Husson shot 31% from the floor as a team and 19-24 from the foul line, but just 22% from beyond the three-point line. The Eagles surrendered the rebounding battle by a large margin, 55-39, including allowing 22 offensive rebounds for Clark.
The Eagles will be back at home on Sunday when they battle Bowdoin College in a 2 p.m. contest.
