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BALTIMORE – Junior David Walker scored 17 points and hit four late free throws to help the Northeastern men's basketball team (21-11) hold off Delaware (10-20), 67-64, in a thrilling CAA quarterfinal matchup on Saturday before a crowd of 3,016 at Royal Farms Arena. 

The Huskies, who will be making their third straight semifinal appearance, will face No. 2 seed UNCW on Sunday at 5 p.m. for a right to play in Monday's CAA championship game.

Northeastern led 61-54 with 5:37 remaining, before a 6-0 Blue Hens' run cut the margin to one with under three minutes to play. Redshirt junior Quincy Ford (16 points) then hit a huge floater in the lane to push the advantage to 63-60, but Delaware's Kory Holden answered right back with a jumper to make it 63-62 with 30 seconds remaining.

The Blue Hens then had a chance to take the lead following a missed NU free throw, but Chivarsky Corbett's runner rimmed out and Walker was able to secure the rebound with 14 seconds showing on the clock. 

The Stow, Ohio, native calmly stepped to the line and hit two shots in a one-and-one situation to make it 65-62, but again Delaware answered when Holden went coast-to-coast for a layup with eight ticks remaining.

Walker rose to the occasion again with two more free throws to make it 67-64 with seven seconds to play. Corbett then raced down the court in a bid to tie, but his 3-pointer at the buzzer hit back iron and Northeastern held on to avenge last year's season-ending loss to Delaware in the CAA semifinals.

Junior Zach Stahl joined Walker and Ford in double-figure scoring with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. Senior Reggie Spencer gave NU a huge boost off the bench with eight points and a 4-for-4 effort at the foul line.

As a team, Northeastern made 14 of 17 free throws (82.4 percent), while shooting 54.8 percent from the field. Ford and Walker each hit three 3-pointers as the Huskies finished 7-for-13 from downtown.

Holden led Delaware with 20 points–including 16 in the first half–while Kyle Anderson and Maurice Jeffers added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Blue Hens out-rebounded Northeastern, 25-23, and notched a 30-26 edge in points in the paint. 

Neither team led by more than eight in a game that was tightly-contested from start to finish. 

Northeastern jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the early stages after forcing seven Delaware turnovers on the Blue Hens' first nine possessions.

The Blue Hens overcame their turnover woes to take a 24-21 lead late in the first half following a steal and dunk by Corbett. 

Stahl then took over for NU, scoring nine straight points to give NU the lead back at 30-27 with 2:05 to play in the frame. 

Delaware pulled back within one, before a 3-pointer by Walker rimmed home with two seconds left in the half to give the Huskies a 35-31 cushion at intermission.

Cazmon Hayes brought Delaware back with nine straight points of his own as the Blue Hens evened the scoreline at 40-apiece less than three minutes into the second stanza.

Redshirt junior Caleb Donnelly then hit a huge corner three to ignite a 7-0 Huskies' run that gave NU its largest lead of the night at 52-44 at the midway point of the half. 

Despite shooting 1-for-11 during the Northeastern run, Delaware was able to hang around and eventually used an 8-0 run of its own, capped by dunk from Marvin King-Davis, to cut the margin to 54-52 Huskies with 8:10 remaining.

Walker buried a 3-pointer from the left wing to push the lead back to five with six minutes to play, but the resolute Blue Hens again battled back to make it a one-possession game down the stretch.

Walker's big free throws in the final minutes helped the junior finish the night with 999 career points entering Sunday's semifinal.

After dropping two tight games to the Seahawks during the regular season, the Huskies will look to make their third time a charm when the teams square off at 5 p.m. live on NBCSN.

Game Notes
• Northeastern advanced to its third straight CAA semifinals
• The Huskies improved to 9-9 all-time in the CAA tournament, and 4-5 in the quarterfinal round.
• NU's nine CAA tournament wins since 2006 are tied with William & Mary for the most among current member institutions in that time span.
• Head coach Bill Coen earned his 99th win in CAA regular season/tournament play, moving him into sole possession of fifth place all-time among the CAA's winningest coaches.
• Walker finished with 17 points to leave him at 999 for his career at Northeastern.
• Walker scored in double-figures for the ninth straight game.
• NU won its first game this season when being out-rebounded (1-7).
• NU improved to 14-0 this season when shooting 50 percent or better.

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