Box Score | Highlights | Infographic | Coen/Pusica Postgame

BOSTON – Led by a 22-point effort from Vasa Pusica, his second 20-point game of the season, the Northeastern men's basketball team earned a wire-to-wire victory over Harvard on Thursday night at Matthews Arena.
 
Pusica finished not only with the 22 points, but added seven rebounds as well as four assists and shot 53.8 from the field during the game. He started the game off with a steal, an offensive board and set Maxime Boursiquot (eight points, six rebounds, five assists) up for the first basket of the game, a lead the Huskies never relinquished.
 
Devon Begley added 14 points off the bench for the Huskies, 10 of which came in the second half, and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line down the stretch. Shawn Occeus added 11 points in his second start of the season, but it was his defensive presence that made the difference for Northeastern with a career-high three blocks and a season-high three steals on the night.
 
Occeus also had the tough task of guarding Harvard standout Bryce Aiken who finished with 26 points, but committed four turnovers on the night to his two assists. Chris Lewis added 20, going 7-of-8 from the field, and added seven rebounds. The duo accounted for 75.4 percent of Harvard's points on the night with the next leading pointgetter, Justin Bassey, recording six.
 
The Huskies bench, led by Begley, outscored Harvard 26-4 while Northeastern tallied 19 points off turnovers compared to just six by Harvard.
 
FIRST HALF
The Huskies forced Harvard into five turnovers before the under-16 media, including one by Occeus heading into the break. Occeus came over to help Green under the basket and knocked the ball away and off the Harvard attacker. Coming out of the break, on the other end of the court, the sophomore drained a three which gave the Huskies a 12-7 lead just over four minutes into the game.
 
That three was followed by a pair by Pusica and Tomas Murphy while boosted Northeastern's lead to nine, 18-9, six-and-a-half minutes into the game.
 
After a Harvard bucket, Northeastern raced off to a 6-0 run which spurred a Tommy Amaker timeout with 11:18 to go. Harvard committed another turnover out of the break, off of a pick by Jeremy Miller, which Boursiquot converted into a basket on the other end. A Pusica trey followed by an Occeus three made it a 14-0 run and eight-straight completions for Northeastern who garnered a 32-11 advantage with nine minutes to go in the first half.
 
Lewis and Aiken both sunk a pair of free throws to get Harvard a few more points, 12 of Harvard's 34 first half points came via the charity stripe thanks to 12 first half fouls from the Huskies.
 
The Huskies took a couple of minutes off from scoring towards the end of the first half, but bounced back with a Pusica three though the Crimson finished the half out on a 15-2 run, holding Northeastern scoreless for 3:44 of the last five minutes. Northeastern still headed to halftime with a seven-point lead.
 
SECOND HALF
In the second half, Occeus came out and hit a much needed three from the corner to add to the Huskies' total, though the two teams exchanged baskets through much of the first five minutes of the second half.
 
The senior presence of Begley was felt during the remainder of the game. After Harvard cut the lead to just six, a pair of Begley baskets just over seven minutes into the second half settled the team and once again made it a 10-point lead in favor of the Huskies, giving Northeastern a more comfortable cushion. The baskets led to an 8-2 run capped by a Gresham three.
 
Northeastern continued to grow the lead while Harvard was the one to find themselves in foul trouble which gave the Huskies a handful of opportunities from the free throw line. Once Harvard got into the bonus just under the 10-minute mark, Northeastern went 9-12 from the line, including a perfect 6-for-6 from Begley which gave the Huskies a 16-point lead and the victory.
 
UP NEXT
The Huskies continue their four-game homestand in just two days when they take on yet another Ivy League opponent in Cornell on Saturday, December 2 at 4 p.m. at Matthews Arena. Tickets are still available for the Red Out Weekend game here.