Northeastern: 2018-19 Colonial Men's Basketball Champions

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- When Northeastern saw its large lead fading in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament finals again, the Huskies flashed back to their failure from a year ago and all the hard work they had put in since.

"We learned from that situation," Huskies guard Shawn Occeus said. "And now we're sitting here today."

Northeastern is sitting once more as CAA Tournament champions after Vasa Pusica had 21 points off seven 3-pointers and helped his team regroup after blowing a double-digit lead to defeat top-seeded Hofstra 82-74 on Tuesday night.

The situation was so eerily similar to the 2018 finals. Northeastern led College of Charleston by 17 in the second half, then watched the Cougars cut down the nets after an 83-76 loss.

"Without that loss maybe we wouldn't be in this position right now," said Pusica, named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

The second-seeded Huskies (23-10) won the league's automatic NCAA Tournament berth for the second time in five seasons and ninth time in school history.

"Are we off the one line?" Northeastern coach Bill Coen joked when asked about possible seeding.

"We're so excited to be included and so excited to play wherever they send us," he said.

It didn't appear Northeastern was heading anywhere but back home with another disappointment when Hofstra opened the second half with a 28-12 run to tie things at 54-all on Jacquil Taylor's two foul shots with more than nine minutes left.

That's when the senior Pusica took charge. His fourth 3-pointer put the Huskies back in front. Pusica added another long-range basket three minutes later for a 66-58 lead. By the time he made his sixth 3, Northeastern led 71-60. Pusica screamed in celebration, one he and his teammates held in for almost a year.

"I'm not sure I have the words to describe tonight," Coen said.

The Pride (26-8) could not recover despite 29 points from the nation's second-leading scorer, Justin Wright-Foreman.

"We have to own it," Pride coach Joe Mihalich said. "Let's cut to the chase, they played two halves, we played one."

Hofstra, as the CAA regular-season champions, has a guaranteed spot in the NIT. The Pride were seeking their first NCAA berth since 2001 when Villanova coach Jay Wright was leading Hofstra's program.

Bolden Brace had 10 points, 10 rebounds and came an assist away from a triple-double for Northeastern, which finished with five players scoring in double figures.

Hofstra came in on a roll with four straight wins and with the CAA's top scorer in Wright-Foreman shooting the lights out. Wright-Foreman set a league tournament record with 42 points in a semifinal overtime win against Delaware on Monday night. But Wright-Foreman and his teammates were mostly cold in the opening half as the Pride fell behind by double-digits 13 minutes in as Huskies pushed the pace for a 19-7 run.

Northeastern hit five 3-pointers in the stretch with Pusica's two in a row from long range getting the run going. By the time Jordan Roland hit a wide-open look from left side of the basket, the Huskies were ahead 23-12 and appeared to be cruising.

Hofstra, the CAA's top scoring and best shooting team this season, shot just 28 percent (9 of 32) in the first period. Wright-Foreman went 3 of 12 overall before the half and made just two of seven attempts from behind the arc.

Taylor had a game-high 15 rebounds for Hofstra.

BIG PICTURE

Northeastern: The Huskies showed they can shoot, finishing 50 percent (26 of 52) from the field and 45.2 percent (14 of 31) from 3-point range. They could prove hard to handle in the NCAAs.

Hofstra: The Pride tied things in the second half behind Wright-Foreman. But it may have taken too much energy to keep things going. Hofstra will be a difficult NIT out for whichever mid-level power conference opponent they draw.

NORTHEASTERN'S NCAA HISTORY

The Huskies have a pair of NCAA victories as double-digit seeds, topping sixth-seeded Fresno State in 1981 and sixth-seeded St. Joseph's a year later. Northeastern is 3-8 all time in tournament play and has lost its last six opening NCAA games.

FAREWELL, CHARLESTON

This game ends the CAA's three-season run at the North Charleston Coliseum. Next year's event will start a three-year stint at the more centrally located Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, D.C. Seven of the league's 10 members are located in the state of Virginia or north.

UP NEXT

Northeastern will await its NCAA Tournament matchup.

Hofstra is headed to the NIT as the CAA's regular-season champion.

Northeastern: 2014-15 Colonial Men's Basketball Champions

BALTIMORE -- Perhaps sometime in the future, William & Mary will be able to cut down the nets to celebrate after winning the conference title and eagerly look forward to participating in the NCAA tournament.

On Monday night, as usual, the Tribe watched someone else do the honors.

Northeastern captured the Colonial Athletic Association championship with a 72-61 victory over top-seeded William & Mary, which failed again to earn its first trip to the NCAA tournament.

Quincy Ford scored 22 points and David Walker added 15 for the Huskies (23-11), who will be making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1991.

That's a relatively short stretch compared to that of William & Mary (20-12), one of only five of the original Division I teams that has never participated in the NCAA tournament. The others: Army, Northwestern, St. Francis (NY) and The Citadel.

William & Mary was playing in its second straight CAA final and the fourth in eight years. The result of each of those games has been frustratingly identical.

"We're all heartbroken right now," coach Tony Shaver said. "We wanted to put that history stuff to rest, and we didn't. We'll live with that. But I do believe if we keep knocking on the door, the door's going to open."

Third-seeded Northeastern scored the game's first 10 points and never trailed in winning its first CAA title. The last time the Huskies made it to the NCAA tournament, they were champions of the North Atlantic Conference (now the America East).

Robbing William & Mary of another opportunity to reach the NCAA tournament didn't take any luster off the accomplishment.

"I was feeling for them last year when they had a chance," coach Bill Coen said. "But this was just our weekend. These guys were on a mission. They weren't going to be denied."

Marcus Thornton scored 20 for the Tribe, who trailed by 22 points with 3:39 left before making a run that came far too late.

"I wish we had that fight for 40 minutes tonight," Shaver lamented.

In the end, William & Mary couldn't come up with a suitable encore for its rousing 92-91 double-overtime win over Hofstra in the semifinals -- perhaps because the players were just too darn tired.

"I don't think there's any question that's a factor," Shaver said.

After falling behind 42-29 early in the second half, the Tribe held the Huskies scoreless for nearly 6 minutes while cutting the gap to seven points.

Caleb Donnelly ended the dry spell with a 3-pointer and Ford followed with a layup. After Sean Sheldon made a free throw on the other end, Walker connected from beyond the arc for Northeastern. Zach Stahl capped the 11-1 run with a three-point play to make it 53-36 with 9:07 remaining.

That silenced a crowd of 5,721 filled predominantly with William & Mary fans. Although the season ended in the same fashion as many that preceded it -- no trip to the NCAAs -- the Tribe will be headed to the NIT as conference champions.

Northeastern finished tied for the regular-season title but was seeded third behind William & Mary and UNC-Wilmington following the tiebreaking process.

Ford scored 15 points, making all three of his shots from beyond the arc, and the Huskies went 14 for 22 (64 percent) from the floor in taking a 36-26 halftime lead.

Northeastern raced to a 10-0 advantage on 4 for 4 shooting while the Tribe went 0 for 2 with a pair of turnovers. After that Shaver called a timeout, and the Tribe responded with a 15-5 run to pull even.

Minutes later, however, Scott Eatherton and Ford scored all the points in a 9-0 spurt that put the Huskies up 29-20.

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ALL-TOURNAMENT

Ford was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. The other members of the All-Tournament team were Eatherton and Walker, Thornton and teammate Omar Prewitt, and Hofstra's Juan'ya Green.

TIP INS

Northeastern: The last time the Huskies made it to the NCAA Tournament, they were at No. 16 seed and lost to Dean Smith's North Carolina team 101-66. ... Northeastern improved to 1-2 against No. 1 seeds in the CAA tournament. ... Lost in the shuffle of Sunday's game was that Walker became the 34th player in school history to reach 1,000 points.

William & Mary: The Tribe now trails the series with Northeastern 10-9. The teams each won once during the regular season. ... Coming off a career-high, 33-point performance Sunday in which he took 18 free throws, Prewitt was held scoreless in the first half, finished with four points on 1 for 7 shooting and went to the line just twice.

UP NEXT

Northeastern: NCAA Tournament.

William & Mary: NIT.