Box Score | Bill Coen Postgame Comments

Rookie Ryan Pierson scored a career-high 19 points to lead Northeastern to a 77-67 win over East Tennessee State in men's basketball action on Thursday morning in the consolation bracket of the Cancun Governor's Cup at the Poliforum Juarez in Cancun, Mexico.

"We're a very young team and I'm very proud of our team today," said Northeastern head coach Bill Coen. "We came back after a disappointing loss yesterday, but we executed a lot better, competed for 40 minutes and were fortunate enough to come away with a victory today."

While Pierson got his buckets on the inside, the rest of the Huskies (3-6) were raining threes, shooting 11-of-18 (61.1 percent) from downtown, the most threes the Huskies have hit in a game since March 23, 2009.

Senior guard Chaisson Allen went 3-of-5 from beyond the arc to account for half of his 18 points and led Northeastern with eight rebounds and a pair of steals. Freshman guard Alex Harris posted a career-high 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor, including a pair of threes, filling the stat sheet with a career-high five assists and two steals as well. Sophomore guard Jonathan Lee was a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc to pick up his 12 points and also dished five assists, both career bests. Redshirt freshman Chris Avenant scored his first career points and blocked two shots.

Senior guard Micah Williams scored a game-high 22 points and made three steals for the Buccaneers (4-7), who dropped their third straight game. Junior guard Adam Sollazzo chipped in 15 points, seven rebounds and eight assists and senior guard Mike Smith added 10 points.

The Huskies opened the game on a 17-4 run and never looked back, draining shots from downtown with the first 12 points coming on four straight three-pointers. Harris got the scoring started and Allen followed on the next possession.

Lee hit the next two threes on back-to-back possessions to put Northeastern up 12-4. After an Allen layup, Harris banked in a three off the glass as the shot clock buzzer sounded to give the Huskies a 17-4 lead and cap a run of 11 unanswered points.

Pierson threw down a dunk to put the Huskies up by 14 with 14:31 to go in the first half and after the Buccaneers cut the lead to 12, a Harris dunk and a three from senior forward Vinny Lima put Northeastern up 29-12 with 10:57 left in the first half.

Avenant knocked down a three for his first collegiate points, putting the Huskies up by 19 with 1:59 to go in the first. Williams closed the first half with a layup for ETSU to make the Northeastern lead 47-29 at the half.

Pierson hit a layup and a pair of free throws in the first minute of the second half to put the Huskies up by 21, Northeastern's largest lead of the game.

An 11-0 run by the Buccaneers midway through the second half cut the Huskies' lead to six, but that was as close as East Tennessee State came down the stretch.

Overall, the Huskies shot a season-high 26-of-54 (48.1 percent) from the field and 14-of-18 (77.8 percent) from the free throw line, including a perfect 5-of-5 performance by Pierson at the charity stripe.

The Buccaneers shot 22-of-50 (44.0 percent) from the field and were just 5-of-14 (35.7 percent) on three-pointers, though East Tennessee State outrebounded the Huskies by a 34-31 margin.

The Huskies will now face the winner of the game between Appalachian State and Texas State in the Cancun Governor's Cup fifth-place game on Friday at 3:30 p.m. (ET) in Cancun, Mexico.