WASHINGTON – The No. 13 Northeastern men's basketball team (7-23) shot 64% from three in the first half to build a 16-point halftime lead and never looked back, cruising to an 88-72 victory over No. 12 North Carolina A&T (11-19) on Friday afternoon at CareFirst Arena.
 
With the win, Northeastern advances to the CAA Second Round where the Huskies will take on No. 5 seed Drexel on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on FloCollege.
 
Mike Loughnane led the way with 18 points on 6-of-12 from the floor and 4-of-7 from three along with six assists. He was joined in double figures by Xavier Abreu with 18 points (15 in the second half), William Kermoury (14 points) and JB Frankel (11 points, three steals) as Northeastern shot 50% overall and 10-of-23 from three-point range.
 
Kermoury finished the day 3-of-7 from three, moving into a tie for ninth in Northeastern's record books for threes made in a season (73). 
 
The victory also marks the 200th career CAA victory for head coach Bill Coen, becoming the first coach in league history to reach the milestone (regular season and postseason).
 
North Carolina A&T, meanwhile, received 17 points from Lewis Walker as one of four Aggies in double figures. They finished the day 23-of-56 from the floor and 3-of-12 from three.
 
The Huskies had it going in the first half, shooting 53% including a 7-of-11 clip from distance to lead by 16 at the break, 40-24.
 
Loughnane was red hot, going for 11 points on 4-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from deep as all nine Huskies who entered the game found the scoresheet. A&T, meanwhile, got nine points from Zamoko Weluche-Ume and shot 10-of-26 overall and 1-of-6 from three.
 
Northeastern maintained its double digit lead throughout the second half as Abreu took control of the game with 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting, and led by as many as 20 points late in the game to keep the Aggies from climbing back into it.