LONDON – Jahmyl Telfort had a game-high 18 points and Alexander Nwagha recorded his first career double-double, but a 15-5 Princeton run to end the game erased a nine-point lead for the Northeastern men's basketball team (1-5) and gave the Tigers (4-2) the victory in the championship game of the London Basketball Classic on Saturday afternoon at the Copper Box Arena, 56-54.
 
It came down to the wire for the second straight game, with Northeastern responding to Princeton's push with one of its own to tie the game at 53 with 1:29 to play on buckets from Joe Pridgen (eight points) and Nwagha. It was a free throw contest from there, though, with the Tigers hitting 3-of-4 in the final minute with three fouls to give before finally sending NU to the line with three seconds left, where it would go 1-of-2 before time expired.
 
Princeton shot 33% overall (19-of-57) but got hot at the right time, hitting six of its final nine from the field while holding the Huskies to 4-of-18 over the final 12 minutes. Northeastern finished the night 24-of-61 (39%).
 
Telfort was 8-of-14 from the floor to go along with six rebounds and three assists for Northeastern, while Nwagha finished with a career-high 10 points and 17 rebounds to join him in double figures. The Tigers had three players reach double digits, led by Ryan Langborg's 17 points.and five steals.
 
• After missing its first two shots of the night, Northeastern went on to hit its next six, kickstarted by a three from Harold Woods to ignite a 14-7 run putting NU up 17-11 early.
 
• The Huskies, who led for 14:44 of the opening half, were 14-of-31 from the floor over the opening 20 minutes thanks in part to 11 first-half points from Telfort (5-of-9 overall). Princeton, though, would close the half on a 10-4 run to trim the Northeastern lead to 32-30 at the break.
 
• Telfort continued to do the work into the second half, adding another seven points over the first six minutes of the half to give Northeastern an eight-point cushion with 7:33 to play, 45-37.
 
• After a 5:21 scoreless drought between the two teams, the Tigers started to heat up, going on a 15-2 run to erase the deficit and take a one point lead with 3:19 to play, 53-49.
 
Northeastern will be back on the road next weekend when the Huskies travel to Atlanta for a Friday night matchup with Georgia Tech (7:30 p.m. ) before returning to Matthews Arena Sunday at 2 p.m. for a date with Georgia State.