Box Score |
Highlights |
Coen/Brace Postgame |
Recap
BOSTON– Holding Elon to zero points in overtime, the first time in school history that the Huskies have held their opponent scoreless in overtime, the Northeastern men's basketball team went on to earn a 72-60 victory over the Phoenix Saturday afternoon at Matthews Arena.
The game marked the second OT contest against the Phoenix this season. Last time out, the Huskies started the period on an 8-0 run. Today, the Huskies earned a 12-0 run to start, and end the stanza, going on to its eighth victory in the last nine games. Seven of those eight wins have come by double digits, including tonight's game.
Bolden Brace paced the Huskies in the overtime period with eight of his season-best 20 points. He also added a career-high 14 rebounds on the night, finishing with his fourth double-double of the season, the most since
T.J. Williams in 2016-17, and his seventh career.
Brace, coupled with
Jason Strong, earned the toughest defensive assignment of the night, guarding Elon's leading scorer Tyler Seibring, who entered the game averaging 16.9 ppg. Seibring finished 1-of-17 on the night with just three points.
However, a trio of Huskies finished with more 20 or more points, Brace,
Vasa Pusica who had 23 points and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line, and
Jordan Roland who added 21 points, five rebounds and a pair of assists. This is the second time this season three Husky scorers have notched 20+ points in a single game.
With the win, Northeastern improved to 15-9 on the year and 9-3 in conference action, the fifth-straight season with 15+ wins and the sixth time in the last seven years.
FIRST HALF
The Huskies got things going with a Roland trey, but Elon was there to match each basket at the start of the game, getting out to an 11-8 advantage thanks to three 3-pointers from Kris Wooten.
The duo of Pusica and Roland combined for the first 16 points for the Huskies, eight each, with Roland packing on a couple 3-pointers of his own during the stretch, before picking up his second foul with 12 minutes to go.
Roland checked back in after the under-eight media, aided Brace on a fastbreak trey and then knocked another down of his own, coupled with a pair of free throws to help the Huskies out to a 10-0 run and a 32-23 advantage with four-and-a-half minutes to go in the first half while holding Elon without a basket for over five minutes during that stretch.
But the Phoenix would not go away and finished the half on an 11-0 run, which gave Elon a 35-34 halftime lead.
SECOND HALF
Elon knocked down the first basket of the second half, a layup from Nathan Priddy, before the Huskies hit back to back layups from Brace and
Tomas Murphy to regain a 38-37 advantage at the first media break.
It was neck-and-neck through the first eight minutes of action, until the Huskies earned some separation following a pair of treys from Roland and Brace. Brace's 3-pointer kick started an 8-0 Husky run that forced Elon's head coach Matt Matheny to call his first timeout of the game.
That advantage was erased following a Steven Santa Ana layup with less than two minutes to go, tying things up at 60-all and sending the game to overtime.
OVERTIME
In the OT period, Brace got things going with a three, the first of his eight overtime points, and the Huskies never looked back scoring 12-straight and holding Elon to zero OT points, to come away with the victory.
The closest the Huskies have held an opponent scoreless in previous overtime attempts include a pair of two-point OT games. The Huskies held Southern Illinois to just two points on Nov. 16, 2010 and held Central Florida to two points on Dec. 19, 1987.
NEXT UP
The Huskies are back out on the road for a pair of games that will take them to the Carolinas. Northeastern will go head-to-head with UNCW on Valentine's Day at 7 p.m. followed by a 4 p.m. CBS College Sports Live Game of the Week at Charleston on Saturday afternoon.
