Huskies Clip Seahawks to Advance to Finals

3/8/2015 7:48:00 PM

Tim McDonnell

Boxscore | #CAAChamps Central Page

BALTIMORE, Md. (March 8, 2015) – Senior forward Scott Eatherton scored a game-high 21 points, including eight during a key second-half stretch, to lead Northeastern to a 78-71 victory over UNCW in Sunday’s second semifinal game in the Colonial Athletic Association Men’s Basketball Championship at Royal Farms Arena.

Third-seeded Northeastern (22-11) advances to Monday’s 7 p.m. tournament championship game to meet top-seeded William & Mary (20-11), a 92-91 double-overtime winner over fifth-seeded Hofstra in Sunday’s first semifinal game. UNCW fell to 18-13 with the loss.

Northeastern, which joined the CAA for the 2005-06 season, will be seeking its first championship in the conference and will be appearing in the league title game for the second time in three seasons. The Huskies’ last conference crown was in the North Atlantic Conference in 1991, when they made their most recent of their seven NCAA Tournament appearances during an 11-year period. Northeastern’s 22 wins this season are its most since going 22-11 in 1990-91.

Eatherton, a first-team All-CAA honoree, hit on seven of 12 shots from the field and seven of nine free throws and collected five rebounds in 33 minutes. After leading all first-half scorers with 11 points, he scored eight points from the 5:47 mark of the second half to the 2:28 mark as the Huskies took the game’s biggest lead at 69-61.

Eatherton scored on a hook shot in the lane with 5:47 to play for a 59-53 Northeastern lead, completed a three-point play against the UNCW press at 3:06 and hit on two free throws at 2:28 for the Huskies’ eight point margin.

UNCW battled back to within 70-67 on a three-point play by freshman guard Jordon Talley and a three-pointer by junior guard Craig Ponder, but Northeastern redshirt junior guard Caleb Donnelly scored a three-point field goal at 1:07 for a 73-67 Husky advantage. Northeastern then got two Donnelly free throws with 40.2 seconds to play, two from redshirt junior forward-guard Quincy Ford with 29.1 seconds left and one from Donnelly with 16.8 seconds remaining to preserve its advantage.

Joining Eatherton in double figures in scoring for Northeastern were four players with 11 points – junior starting guard David Walker and reserves Donnelly, freshman guard Devon Begley and senior forward Reggie Spencer. Donnelly in 11 minutes hit on three of four shots from the field, including two of three attempts from three-point range; Begley hit on each of his four shots, including two from three-point range, in 20 minutes; and Spencer hit on four of six shots in 23 minutes.

Talley led UNCW with 18 points on seven-of-nine shooting in 31 minutes. Ponder added 17 points and five rebounds and senior guard Addison Spruill 12 points.

Northeastern had a 34-23 rebounding edge, including 12 offensive rebounds, and finished with a 14-2 advantage in second chance points. Northeastern shot 48.2 percent (27-56) and had seven three-pointers and UNCW 48.1 percent (26-54) with eight three-pointers. Northeastern hit on six more free throws (17 to UNCW’s 11), and both teams had 10 turnovers.

Northeastern trailed for most of the opening half but scored the period’s final eight points for a 33-30 halftime lead. Eatherton hit on four of five shots, for the Huskies, who hit on 13 of 25 attempts (52.0 percent) as a team. Junior forward Dylan Sherwood had eight points off the bench to lead UNCW during the first half. He had two of the Seahawks’ five three-pointers (10 attempts) during the period.

The lead changed hands four times during the initial 6:28 of the final half before Northeastern went in front to stay at 48-47 on two Spencer free throws with 11:40 remaining.

In a championship-game matchup of two of the four teams that tied for the CAA regular-season crown with 12-6 records, the Huskies will be meeting a William & Mary squad seeking its school’s first NCAA Tournament bid. William & Mary finished second in last season’s tournament and will be playing in the CAA title game for the fourth time in eight seasons.

William & Mary and Northeastern split regular-season meetings with both winning at home – William & Mary 78-62 Jan. 24 and Northeastern 75-64 Feb. 18.