Northeastern's Shawn Occeus scored 18 points in the Huskies' semifinal win over UNCW.
Strong Defensive Effort Sends NU Into Title Game
Rob Washburn
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NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (March 5, 2018) – Redshirt junior Vasa Pusica scored 20 points and Shawn Occeus added 18 to help No. 2 seed Northeastern down sixth-seeded UNCW, 79-52, on Monday night in the second semifinal of the 2018 CAA Men’s Basketball Championship, presented by Jersey Mike’s Subs.
The Huskies (23-9) won their second straight tournament game by more than 20 points while upping their overall winning streak to nine, and will meet No. 1 seed College of Charleston (25-7) in Tuesday’s CAA title contest on CBS Sports Network at 7:00 p.m.
CofC and NU shared the regular season conference trophy with identical 14-4 records, but the Cougars won both previous head-to-head meetings. It will be Northeastern’s third CAA Championship appearance and Charleston’s second.
Making an appearance in the semifinals for the fifth time in the last six seasons, the Huskies shot 46.9 percent as a team, with freshman Tomas Murphy (11 points) and sophomore Maxime Boursiquot (10 points, four rebounds) joining Pusica and Occeus in double-figures.
Two-time defending CAA champion UNCW, which made its fourth consecutive trip to the semifinals, ends the 2017-18 season with an 11-21 record. Junior All-CAA standout Devontae Cacok scored 15 points and pulled down nine boards, while Jaylen Fornes chipped in 11 points, five rebounds, and three assists in the loss.
The game was tied at 17-17 with 9:27 left in the first half when the Huskies went on a 15-0 run over the next five minutes to take control. The Seahawks were able to battle back within 36-27 at the half, but never got closer than nine over the final 20 minutes. Pusica scored 15 of his 20 points in the first half.
Northeastern was up 50-37 with 14:31 remaining when it reeled off 16 unanswered points over the next six minutes. The advantage grew to as much as 30 points.
The Huskies were outstanding defensively, limiting UNCW to 29.9% field goal shooting.