Box Score | Infographic | Coen Postgame via WRBB | Pusica halftime buzzer beater

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In a tight game that came down to the final seconds of action, Utah State hung on to defeat the Northeastern men's basketball team 71-67 in the Huskies first game of the PK80 Nashville Challenge on Friday.
 
Vasa Pusica finished with a game-high 27 points on the day, a career high for the San Diego transfer. Pusica earned all 27 points going 9-of-12 from the field on the day and 6-of-8 from deep. His six 3-pointers finish in a tie 10^th most all-time in the Husky record books and he is the first Husky to finish with exactly six treys since David Walker did so against Boston University on Nov. 16, 2014. The six threes were the most since Bolden Brace set the school record with 10 threes against Elon last season.
 
Donnell Gresham added nine points for the Huskies (2-3) while Maxime Boursiquot finished with eight points and a team-high seven rebounds on the day while Anthony Green had eight points and five rebounds.
 
Three Aggies (3-3) earned double-digit efforts on the day led by Sam Merrill who finished with 19 points and three assists. DeAngely Isby added 14 points while Alex Dargenton finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
 
Utah State's success came on fouls drawn and turnovers forced. They forced the Huskies into 20 turnovers on the day outscoring Northeastern 24-13 off of turnovers. They also were able to draw 26 Husky fouls, 19 of which came in the second half, which led to 31 free throw attempts of which they were able to connect on 19 of them.
 
FIRST HALF
Pusica scored seven of the Huskies first nine points on the day before checking out five-and-a-half minutes into play. The guard hit a three to get things started before adding a fastbreak layup and a pair of free throws.
 
Jeremy Miller headed to the line making one-of-two, and followed that up with a three on a broken play to add four-straight points to the Huskies total which gave them a 15-13 advantage in a back-and-forth first half. Gresham followed Miller's three up with one of his own, his 10^th trey of the season.
 
Pusica checked back in and he and Boursiquot alternated baskets for the remainder of the first half as Pusica added another 11 points to his total including a three with time expiring in the first half to finish with 18 points through the first 20 minutes, just one off of his career-high, set at San Diego.
 
Pusica's near-halftime three came following a heads up play by the Huskies' leader Bill Coen. After Utah State drained a three of their own with time almost out in the first half, Coen immediately called a timeout. The officials determined that there was one second left on the clock and the Huskies made the most of it.
 
Bolden Brace set up ready to inbound and used his high school quarterback expertise to chuck a pass all the way to the opposite 3-point line where Pusica gathered it in and tossed up a deep three that fell for the score to give the Huskies a 33-32 advantage heading into the break.
 
SECOND HALF
Northeastern's first two baskets in the second half came from Green while Devon Begley added a layup to give the Huskies a 41-36 advantage just a few minutes in.
 
But like in the first half, Utah State fought back in, and using a 6-0 advantage took a 55-50 lead with just over seven minutes remaining in play. Coming out of the media, Utah State made one-of-two free throws to extend the run to seven.
 
Like he did against Stanford, Donnell Gresham calmly drained a three that halted the Aggies scoring streak and followed by a Green layup that made it a three-point game, 57-55.
 
Northeastern's second half foul trouble helped Utah State to its next five points, all via free throws to take a 62-55 advantage before Green slammed one down to make it a five-point game heading into the under-four media.
 
Utah State grew that lead to eight with just 38 seconds remaining in the game, but Northeastern would not back down as the Huskies grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds which led to a Begley layup, and-one, to make it a five-point game.
 
Northeastern forced a turnover with no time coming off the clock and Pusica drew a foul to sink a free throw and make it a four-point game and on the ensuing possession drained his sixth trey of the game to cut the lead to just one with nine seconds left.
 
But Utah State sank enough free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 71-67 victory.
                                                                                  
UP NEXT
Northeastern will wrap up the PK80 Invitational against Furman tomorrow, Saturday, November 24 at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium.