NU heats up to move on

Big second half hampers Hens

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — After the first 20 minutes of last night’s CAA tournament quarterfinal, it looked like Northeastern’s lofty postseason aspi- rations were unrealistic.

Less than 10 minutes into the second half, the Huskies left little doubt they were headed to the tournament semifinals.

Fueled by a 16-3 run to open the second stanza, second-seeded Northeastern took care of upsetminded Delaware for a 7450 win. NU will play No. 6 UNC Wilmington tonight.

It was a slow start for the second-seeded Huskies (22-9) as No. 7 Delaware (14-19) had an early lead and stayed within two possessions through the first half. Northeastern clung to a 33-28 advantage at intermission. Vasa Pusica scored 10 straight at one point in the half to keep the Huskies afloat.

The game’s tenor changed after the teams came back out of the locker room.

Northeastern held the Blue Hens without a point through the first five minutes of play, going up by 11 on Pusica’s put-back.

After Delaware managed to score, the Huskies had the answer as backto-back 3-pointers from Devon Begley and Bolden Brace pushed the advantage up to 15.

“The game plan was just to get stops. We know we can score the ball, we’re a good offensive team and move the ball well. We just figured if we could get a stop every possession and limit them to one possession rebounding, then we would be fine,” Begley said.

The Huskies forced nine turnovers in the second half, scoring 10 points off those giveaways. They also dominated the glass, winning the rebound battle 39-24. Anthony Green set the tone with a gamehigh 10 boards.

While the defense amped up, Northeastern’s offense got a lift from a familiar face. Brace, who earned CAA Sixth Man of the Year honors earlier in the week, turned up the heat. After being held scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting in the first half, the sophomore went 5-of6 from the field during the second half, scoring 13 points.

“He’s the sixth player of the year for a reason. He can score. Last year, he had a 40-point game. At halftime I told him to keep shooting, that’s what he does and he made some shots,” said Pusica, who finished just shy of a triple-double with 15 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

Both of the Huskies’ regular-season meetings with UNCW went into overtime before they came away with four- and seven-point victories.

Northeastern is hoping to advance to the CAA tournament final for the first time since 2015, when the program won the title and reached the NCAA tournament.

“It’ll be a really competitive game,” Northeastern coach Bill Coen said. “We were in close games with UNCW. I think we had two overtime games with them . . . . We’re going to have to bring our best to the table (tonight) if we expect to advance.”