Pusica, NU nail 4th straight win

Vasa Pusica scored 17 of his 24 points in the first half and Anthony Green tied a career high with 16 points as Northeastern held off Drexel, 75-69, last night at Matthews Arena for its fourth straight win.

Behind the hot shooting of Pusica — who was 7-of11 from the floor in the first half — the Huskies (18-9, 11-4 Colonial Athletic Association) raced out to a 19-8 lead, and Pusica’s deep 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left before the break put Northeastern up 10.

After the break, the teams traded buckets until a 10-2 Huskies run put them up 14, their largest lead of the night. The Dragons (1117, 5-10) responded with a 15-4 run to bring the margin down to three. Pusica answered with his second 3-pointer and two free throws, and Devon Begley made two free throws as well to push the lead back to 10 and put it on ice.

Albany 91, UMass-Lowell 81 — David Nichols scored 25 points, 19 in the second half, leading five into double figures and the Great Danes (20-8, 8-5 America East) defeated the host River Hawks (9-16, 3-9) to notch their fourth straight 20-win season.

The Great Danes took the lead on a pair of Greg Stire free throws with 13:16 left in the first half and never trailed.

After falling behind by as many as 15, UML fought back into ties at 58-58 and 61-61 but could never get over the hump. Travis Charles broke the last tie with a pair of free throws for Albany, kicking off an 8-0 run. The Great Danes closed the game on a 14-7 run over the last 3:35 after the River Hawks came within a point.

Jahad Thomas scored 22 points to lead the hosts and all five starters scored 10 points or better.

Vermont 71, New Hampshire 58 — In Burlington, Vt., Cam Ward scored 14 points and Drew Urquhart and Everett Duncan added 13 each as the Catamounts (22-5, 12-0 America East) defeated the Wildcats (10-17, 6-7) for their 15th consecutive victory.

Vermont also ran its home winning streak to 22 and its regular-season conference win streak to 33.

The teams were tied at halftime at 33 before the Catamounts went on a 14-0 run to take a 60-48 lead with under six minutes left, with the Wildcats going without a field goal for over 10 minutes of the second half.

Tanner Leissner and John Ogwuche scored 12 points each for New Hampshire with Iba Camara pulling down 10 rebounds to go with eight points.

Tulsa 73, UConn 71 — In Hartford, Conn., Sterling Taplin scored a career-high 30 points and the Golden Hurricane (15-10, 8-5 American Athletic) swept the season series from the Huskies (12-14, 5-8).

Junior Etou had 15 points and DaQuan Jefferies added 14 for Tulsa, which extended its winning streak to four.

Christian Vital had 13 of his 20 points in the first half for UConn when the Huskies built up a 12-point lead. The Huskies, who have lost five of their last six, led 4031 at intermission.

Hartford 67, Maine 63 — In West Hartford, Conn., Jason Dunne scored 19 points with four 3-pointers and nine rebounds, J.R. Lynch scored 13 points and made four free throws in the final 16 seconds, and the Hawks (15-11, 8-4 America East) beat the Black Bears (6-22, 3-10).

Aaron Calixte scored 24 points with three 3-pointers and Andrew Fleming added 16 points for the Black Bears, who have lost three straight.

In Top 25 action:

Houston 67, Cincinnati 62 — Corey Davis Jr. and Devin Davis each scored 16 points, and the host Cougars (20-5, 10-3 American) upset the No. 5 Bearcats (23-3, 12-1) to snap the nation’s longest winning streak at 16 games.

Wisconsin 57, Purdue 53 — Ethan Happ had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and the Badgers (12-16, 5-10 Big Ten) secured their biggest win of a challenging season by beating the No.6 Boilermakers (23-5, 12-3) in Madison, Wis.

Penn State 79, Ohio State 56 — In State College, Pa., Tony Carr scored 30 points and the Nittany Lions (199, 9-6 Big Ten) routed the No.8 Buckeyes (22-6, 13-2) to sweep the season series.

Wichita State 93, Temple 86 — Shaquille Morris had 23 points and 13 rebounds, including a tie-breaking putback in the final two minutes, to lead the No.19 Shockers (20-5, 10-3 American) to victory over the Owls (15-11, 7-7) in Wichita, Kan.

Women’s basketball

Louisville 87, Boston College 52 — Asia Durr scored 16 points to lead the No.4 Cardinals (26-2, 12-1 ACC) to victory against the host Eagles (7-9, 2-11) for their sixth win in seven games.

Georgia Pineau followed up Sunday’s career-high, 23-point game against Pittsburgh with 22 points and seven rebounds to lead BC. Eagles leading scorer Milan Bolden-Morris was held to nine points.

Men’s hockey

Boston College 5, UMass 2 — Sophomore forward Julius Mattila had two goals and an assist as the No. 19 Eagles (15-13-3, 15-6-0) used a four-goal third period to beat the Minutemen (13-172, 7-13-2) in a Hockey East game at the Mullins Center in Amherst.

Joe Woll made 28 saves for the Eagles, who pushed their lead atop the Hockey East standings to four points over second-place Providence, and five over third-place Northeastern.