Box Score |
Highlights |
Coen/Brace/Occeus Postgame |
Recap
BOSTON– Twenty-one points from
Vasa Pusica, a double-double from
Bolden Brace and some lock down defense from
Shawn Occeus, led to a 69-60 victory for the Northeastern men's basketball team over Charleston on Thursday night.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak to the Cougars (14-5, 3-3 CAA), evened the series record at six-all, marked the third-straight for the Huskies and gave Northeastern (10-8, 4-2) sole possession of third place in the CAA.
Along with his 21 points, including an 8-for-8 stretch from the free throw line, Pusica added three assists and four steals. Brace's double-double, his second of the season and fifth of his career, came in the form of 14 points and 10 rebounds while Occeus finished with 12 points and a pair of steals.
Occeus was on Charleston's Grant Riller all night holding the guard, who entered the night averaging nearly 22 points a game, to 17 while also forcing four turnovers, while Brace's matchup came against Brantley (19.3 ppg) holding the senior forward to 13 points and forcing six turnovers.
FIRST HALF
Charleston grabbed an advantage early on, getting out to a 10-4 lead less than five minutes into the game, ultimately gaining a 15-8 lead following a Sam Miller 3-pointer with 12:32 to go in the period before the Huskies started their run.
Thanks to four-straight buckets, bookended by
Jeremy Miller layups, Northeastern took a 16-15 advantage halfway through the stanza. Following that run the two teams traded baskets, and turnovers, and ended the 20 minute period knotted at 23-all.
Pusica led the Husky scorers with six points while Brantley finished with the same amount for the Cougars.
SECOND HALF
The Huskies, specifically Brace, came out firing in the second half and quickly helped the team to a 10-point lead. Brace hit the first basket of the half for Northeastern and then rallied off seven-straight Northeastern points, to make it a 37-29 ball game. A pair of
Anthony Green free throws gained the double-digit edge.
A
Shawn Occeus layup, followed by a
Vasa Pusica layup made it a 10-0 run over a 2:20 span for the Huskies, to build up a 16-point lead.
Charleston chipped away at that lead, holding Northeastern without a basket for over four minutes, and rallying off ten-straight points to make it 50-44 with 7:47 to go. Occeus ended that run knocking down a buzzer beating jumper while getting fouled. Coupled with a Green slam and a fastbreak layup from, once again, Occeus, the Huskies were back in business with a 56-46 lead with five-and-a-half minutes to go.
The Cougars made it a five-point game with 3:30 to go, prompting
Bill Coen to call his lone timeout of the night and coming out of that break, Brace drained a three and Pusica added a pair of free throws to build that lead back up to double-digits.
With less than two minutes remaining, Charleston began to press and foul, but the Huskies made eight of their 10 free throws down the stretch to seal the 69-60 victory.
NEXT UP
Northeastern is back at Matthews Arena on Saturday afternoon kicking off an exciting basketball-hockey double header at Noon against UNCW. Tickets are still available
HERE.
