Box Score  |  Season Stats  |  Infographic

NEWARK, Del. – The Northeastern men's basketball team opened CAA play in impressive fashion, dispatching the defending conference champion Delaware Blue Hens, 72-53, Saturday at the Bob Carpenter Center.

The win snapped a four-game slide against Delaware and gave head coach Bill Coen his 131st career victory at Northeastern, tying Karl Fogel for the third-most all-time in program history.

Seven Huskies scored eight points or more, paced by senior Scott Eatherton who led all scorers with 15 points. Sophomore T.J. Williams scored in double-figures for the fourth straight game with 12 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists, while junior Caleb Donnelly (nine points) and senior Reggie Spencer (eight points, seven rebounds) provided sparks off the bench.

Northeastern (9-4, 1-0 CAA) led for over 38 minutes and blew the game open with a 17-2 run early in the second half, bolstered by an 8-for-8 shooting stretch. The Huskies dominated on the glass, out-rebounding the Blue Hens by a 44-30 margin, and shot 49 percent from the field (26-for-53) and 92 percent at the foul line (12-for-13).

Maurice Jeffers led Delaware (1-11, 0-1 CAA) with 11 points, while Kyle Anderson added 10 on 4-for-14 shooting. 

The Blue Hens found it difficult to dissect the Northeastern defense all game as the Huskies limited the hosts to 32 percent shooting (19-for-60), including 4-for-14 from behind the arc. 

The Huskies held the Blue Hens without a field goal in the final three minutes of the first half to jump out to a 32-22 lead at the break. Delaware shot just 28 percent in the frame and led for only 17 seconds, 2-0, in the opening moments of the game.

Junior Zach Stahl scored all eight of his points in the first half and also made a big defensive play at the four-minute mark, stripping the ball away from Jeffers and advancing the ball up the court for a transition three from redshirt junior Quincy Ford (eight points, eight rebounds). 

Donnelly once again made an impact off the bench, splashing in his first of three 3-pointers to give Northeastern a 17-10 lead with 12 minutes left in the opening frame.

The Huskies stretched their lead to double-digits just before halftime when Williams found Ford cutting to the hoop for a layup off an inbound with two seconds showing on the clock. 

The Blue Hens briefly made things interesting with a 7-2 run out of the locker room, but back-to-back triples from Donnelly and a tough and-one from Ford restored NU's comfortable lead at 47-34 with 13:29 remaining.

Northeastern kept its foot on the gas pedal and pulled away from Delaware with a 17-2 run midway through the half, while limiting the Blue Hens to just 1-of-10 shooting during the span.

Spencer scored all eight of his points in the second stanza and pommelled the Blue Hens inside with several tough layups in traffic. 

Junior David Walker (10 points) put the exclamation on the second-half run with a soaring dunk along the baseline to put the Huskies up 64-42 with 7:30 remaining.

Northeastern will look to build on its two-game winning streak on Monday when it welcomes CAA-foe UNCW to Matthews Arena for a 7 p.m. tilt. 

Game Notes
• Northeastern head coach Bill Coen won his 131st game at Northeastern on Saturday, tying Karl Fogel for the third-most victories in program history.
• The Huskies snapped a four-game slide against Delaware and won their third straight CAA opener.
• All 11 Northeastern players saw playing time.
• The Huskies pulled down a season-high 44 rebounds.
• Sophomore T.J. Williams scored in double-figures for the fourth straight game.
• Senior Scott Eatherton scored in double-figures for the 11th time in 13 games this season.
• The Huskies won their second game in a row, snapping a span of nine games in which NU had alternated wins and losses.

 Tweets by @GoNUmbasketball .