Northeastern on a roll

Hotshot Huskies overpower Hofstra

Hofstra guard Greg Johnson (a 6-footer) encounters a large obstacle in NU's Nkem Ojougboh (6-9). (Jim Davis/Globe Staff)

Perhaps it's a bit premature to begin thinking about the league standings. Or maybe not. After all, victories such as last night's 73-50 romp over Hofstra could have far-reaching ramifications for Northeastern's men's basketball team.

The Huskies (8-5 overall) got off to their first 3-0 start since joining the Colonial Athletic Association in 2005 and moved into a first-place tie with George Mason after their romp over the Pride (9-5, 1-2) before a Matthews Arena crowd of 1,799.

"Each game is so valuable," said NU coach Bill Coen, whose team won for the fifth time in six games and will next face Georgia State tomorrow night in Atlanta. "Everybody is playing for seeding at the end of the year for the conference tournament. It's very, very difficult if you're not in the top four to win four games in four days, so each and every game is so important, particularly home games.

"You have to defend your home court."

The Huskies did precisely that in forcing Hofstra to commit a season-high 25 turnovers, which led to 29 NU points, while outrebounding a rugged Hofstra frontcourt, 39-32, and holding sophomore guard Charles Jenkins, the CAA's No. 3 scorer, to a career-low 3 points on 1-for-9 shooting, well below his 18.3-point season average.

"It was team defense," said junior forward Manny Adako, who tallied a game-high 16 points on 7-for-12 shooting to lead NU in scoring for the fourth time this season.

Coen said, "We kind of just put it to Jenkins and they didn't really rotate out of it really well and we zoned up really well and got a lot of easy steals and forced turnovers."

Nkem Ojougboh had 13 points to go along with 8 rebounds while Matt Janning, NU's leading scorer (15.9 points per game), tallied 8 of his 10 points in the second half after combining with Chaisson Allen (8 points, 8 rebounds, 6 steals) to go 0 for 11 from the field in the first half.

Amazingly, the shooting woes of the starting backcourt did little to deter the Huskies from taking a commanding 33-18 lead at intermission.

"Obviously, you want to knock down a couple of those shots, just to get into a rhythm," Janning said. "But we had the game in control and Chaisson was doing a nice job of running the offense.

"He missed a couple of shots and I missed a couple of mine that I was expecting to hit myself and I know these guys were expecting me to hit, but that's how the game went."

The Huskies left little doubt about the outcome when they scored 11 straight points to start the game en route to a 16-2 lead.

Eugene Spates, who scored all 9 of his points in the first half, knocked down a pair of 3-pointers during that stretch while Adako, who led the Huskies with 12 first-half points, had 6 early points, using conventional methods: layup, layup, turnaround righty jump-hook on the baseline.

The Pride closed within 8, 17-9, on Miklos Szabo's baseline jumper with 11:23 left. But NU stepped up its defensive intensity and forced 17 first-half turnovers (10 steals), which yielded 16 points.

It enabled the Huskies to withstand the 0-for-11 shooting from their starting backcourt.

"On nights like that, we know we have to step up," Adako said.

Jenkins fared little better, going scoreless in the first half after failing to convert on three field goal attempts while committing six turnovers against one assist. Jenkins didn't hit his first basket until 11:22 remained, a jumper that pulled Hofstra within 54-30.

"We should be able to drive the ball, but right now Jenkins is struggling and he's generally the guy who gets in the lane and makes those plays," lamented Hofstra coach Tom Pecora.

Janning came out in the second half and heated up with 8 points in a 12-4 run that stretched NU's lead to 23 (45-22).

When Ojougboh made a steal and fired an outlet to Allen, it was apparent that nothing was going to prevent NU from having its way. Allen weaved his way through defenders and put a heavily contested, off-balance shot off the glass for a 51-24 lead.

"It's so early," Coen said of his team's perch atop the league standings. "It's too early to scoreboard-watch, but for us it's a great victory because it's a league victory."

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com