ST. THOMAS – Northeastern (3-2) received 20 points and nine rebounds from
Shaquille Walters along with double-doubles from
Chris Doherty (14 points, 13 rebounds) and
Nikola Djogo (11 points, 10 rebounds), as the Huskies held Southern Illinois (2-2) to less than 30% from the floor and 3-of-18 from three en route to a 59-47 victory on Sunday night at the Paradise Jam.
With the victory, Northeastern advances to the Paradise Jam title game where it will take on Colorado State on Monday night at 8 p.m. (ET) on ESPN3.
With the score tied at 20 at the break, Northeastern responded with a 56% shooting performance over the final 20 minutes while limiting the Salukis to a 9-of-26 showing in the second half to lead by as many as 13 late.
The Huskies controlled the glass for most of the evening (39-26) and recorded a season-high five blocks, marking the second time in the last three games that Northeastern has held its opponent to less than 50 points and gives NU three straight victories in non-conference play for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
Offensively, NU was 21-of-43 from the floor (49%), led by Walters' 7-of-10 performance.
• Northeastern came out red hot, shooting 5-of-6 from the floor to bolt out to an 11-2 lead, forcing an early SIU timeout.
• The teams had trouble finding their footing in the opening 20 minutes before the Salukis went on a 13-4 run to close the half to level the score at 20 heading into the locker room, despite shooting 25% (7-of-28) overall.
• After SIU got a bucket in the opening moments of the second half, its only lead of the game, Northeastern took over with a 10-3 run over 6:51 to go up by five with 12:14 to go, capped by three straight buckets from Walter.
• Southern Illinois would fight back to tie the game again at 35 with 9:07 to play, but an 11-4 Northeastern run highlighted by an and-one from Doherty put the Huskies back up by seven with 4:13 to go.
• NU remained in control from there, getting the lead up to double-digits late with seven free throws down the stretch.
