Second-Half Surge Sends Northeastern Over W&M, 63-47
Rob Washburn
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HARRISONBURG, Va. Second-seed Northeastern used a strong second-half performance to defeat 7
th-seed William & Mary, 63-47, in the quarterfinal round of the 2021 Hercules Tires CAA Men’s Basketball Championship, Sunday evening at the Atlantic Union Bank Center in Harrisonburg, Va.
Sophomore guard Tyson Walker led the Huskies with 19 points, while freshmen Coleman Stucke and Jahmyl Telfort chipped in with 13 points each. Chris Doherty had nine points and grabbed 18 rebounds for NU, a career-high and tied for the eighth-most rebounds in a CAA Tournament game. His eight offensive rebounds were tied for the sixth-most in a CAA Tournament game.
Trailing 28-25 at intermission, Northeastern came out firing in the second half. The Huskies went on an 18-4 run over the first eight minutes to grab a 15-point advantage. Northeastern’s lead was never less than 11 the rest of the way as it limited W&M to just 5-of-22 FG shooting over the final 20 minutes.
The Tribe started strong and took a nine-point lead, 21-12, with 5:58 remaining in the opening period on a lay-up by CAA Rookie of the Year Connor Kochera. Northeastern cut the deficit to three at the half on a lay-up by Doherty.
Senior guard Luke Loewe scored 18 points to lead the Tribe, who finish the season at 7-10 overall. Quinn Blair added 11 points for W&M.
Huskies’ head coach Bill Coen won his 251
st career game, passing Jim Calhoun for first place on NU’s all-time victories list. He also won his 18
th CAA Tournament game, setting a new league mark for most tournament wins, surpassing Jim Larranaga of George Mason, who had 17.
With the win, Northeastern advances to the semifinal round and will face the winner of Sunday’s final quarterfinal game between No. 3 Charleston and No. 6 Drexel at 9:30 p.m. on Monday.