The Husson University men’s and women’s basketball teams after a pair of wins on Friday were both looking for a North Atlantic Conference weekend sweep over visiting Northern Vermont-Lyndon on Saturday afternoon at Newman Gymnasium in Bangor.
In the men’s game- After pulling away for a nine point win on Friday night, Husson needed a big comeback to finish the sweep as they trailed by 15 in the second half to NVU-Lyndon. The Eagles did just that in capturing a 78-73 victory. The Hornets had as much as a nine point lead in the first half, before the hosts closed within three at the break behind 11 points from Jeremy Moronta who was just getting started on the scoring ledger. NVU-Lyndon began the first 2:27 of the second half on a 10-0 run getting to the basket for five layups to build their advantage to 13. They would lead by 15 on three different occasions, the last time on a jumper by Mondell Bukle with 13:47 left. Up 10 with 6:57 to go, Husson then made their run to get back into the game and steal it away from the Hornets. An 8-0 spurt finished off by a layup from Justice Kendall cut it to 69-67, and about four minutes later with 1:27 remaining they would take their first lead since early in the first half at 74-73 on a Moronta driving layup. They iced the comeback win on a Moronta jumper and two free throws from Derek Collin in the final 30 seconds. Moronta finished with a game high 34 points (23 in the second half) on 14-20 shooting, nine rebounds, and two steals. Collin also finished in double figures with 13 points and seven rebounds. NVU-Lyndon put four players in double digit scoring led by Bukle with 23 points and five rebounds. The Hornets are now 6-16, 3-8 in the NAC.
In the women’s game- After a big second half on Friday to pick up a 45 point win, Husson finished off the sweep by putting 11 players in the scorebook for a 66-37 victory over NVU-Lyndon. The Eagles never trailed and led by as many as 13 in the first quarter. The Hornets hung around down by eight in the second, before the hosts got layups by Hannah Richards and Trinity Montigny, two free throws from Montigny, and a three-pointer by Richards to end the first half on a 9-0 run for a 17 point halftime lead. They started the third quarter on a run of 11-2 (20-2 overall) to increase the margin to 44-18 and never looked back after that. The largest lead was 33. Richards led the way in the win with 13 points, Vanessa Duarte added 11, and Lauren Cook had nine points. Montigny finished with six points, and Bailey Donovan also contributed six points, 14 rebounds, and two steals. Sage Smith led NVU-Lyndon in the loss with 12 points and six rebounds. The Hornets fall to 9-13, 5-7 in the NAC.
The Husson men improved to 12-12, 10-3 in conference with the two wins over the weekend while the women’s team is 18-6, 12-1. Both teams will take on Maine Maritime Academy at Newman Gym in the regular season finale next Saturday afternoon with the women’s game at 1 and the men to follow.
Recaps by Chris Lessner
