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N. CHARLESTON, S.C. – The duo of
Vasa Pusica and
Shawn Occeus combined for 38 of the Huskies 79 points as the No. 2 Northeastern men's basketball team thrashed No. 6 UNCW 79-52 Tuesday night in the team's semifinal round matchup at the North Charleston Coliseum.
The win marked the ninth-straight for the Huskies, who advance to their third CAA Championship game in program history. The nine-straight wins mark the seventh longest win-streak in school history and the sixth-longest active win-streak in the nation.
The game marks the third-straight blowout for the Huskies as they have defeated their last three opponents by a 24.3-point margin. Tonight's win marked the second-largest margin of victory this season and the largest over a D-I opponent (Wentworth, 34).
Pusica finished with 20 points for his 14
th 20-point effort of the season while pulling down six rebounds and dishing out three assists. Occeus added 18 points, three rebounds and a pair of steals. With his two steals today, he moves into sixth place on the Northeastern single season steal chart with 64.
Tomas Murphy added 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting while
Maxime Boursiquot finished with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.
The Huskies shot 46.9 from the field while holding UNCW to just 29.9 percent shooting and 30.0 from deep. Northeastern held UNCW to just 25 second-half points, while outrebounding the Seahawks, 44-41.
UNCW's leader Devontae Cacok finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, his first non-double-double against the Huskies this year. Senior Jordon Talley added just six points and four assists, guarded by Occeus all night. Jaylen Fornes added 11 points, all of which came in the first half.
After UNCW got out to a 7-2 lead to start the game, back-to-back treys by Pusica and Donnell Gresham (6 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists) got the Huskies back into the game before the first media timeout. The two teams exchanged two ties and five lead changes in the first eight-and-a-half minutes before the Huskies took charge.
After a Marcus Bryan free throw tied the game at 17-all with just under 10 to play, the Huskies trekked out on a 17-1 run to take a 34-18 lead with 4:19 to play.
UNCW scored the final seven points of the half to get within nine, 36-27 after the first 20 minutes of action.
Another 16-0 run in the second half, while holding the Seahawks scoreless for nearly six minutes put the game out of reach. During that span, started by a Pusica three, Occeus tallied seven of his 18 points while
Tomas Murphy added another six.
Right before that stretch, Occeus tallied his first steal of the game putting him into a tie with Chaisson Allen for sixth most in a single season, a mark that he would best later in the game.
Derrick Cook got into the game and in four minutes of action he put up five points on 2-of-2 shooting while pulling down a rebound.
Anthony Green fell just one rebound shy of back-to-back double-digit rebound efforts finishing the game with four points and nine boards while adding two blocks.
UP NEXT
The Huskies advance to the CAA Tournament Finals where they will face No. 1 Charleston at 7 p.m. at the North Charleston Coliseum. The game can be found on CBS Sports Network.
