By Michael Petillo
After a hotly contested back and forth first half of basketball between Northeastern and Cornell, it was the Huskies who pulled away in the second half to cruise to a 84-66 win. Redshirt sophomore guard Donnell Gresham led the way with 22 points, 17 of which came after halftime. Gresham also chipped in 9 rebounds and 4 for NU’s 16 steals. Northeastern’s defense keyed two big second half runs that helped them put the Big Red away, as they forced 23 Cornell into committing 23 turnovers.
Point guard Vasa Pusica netted 20 on the day and also contributed 6 assists. It was the 3rd time in the last 4 games that the Belgrade, Serbia native has reached the 20-point mark. Bolden Brace and Max Boursiquot also eclipsed double digit scoring, with 12 and 11 points respectively. For Brace, it was an important game in getting him back on track after a slow start to the season shooting the ball.
“I think everybody that watched us last year recognizes how good of a player Bolden is,” said Coach Bill Coen after the game,
“We’ve been waiting for him to kind of get on track and today I thought he just played with that spirit and that energy he needed to be effective.”
Matt Morgan, the Ivy League’s leading scorer the past two seasons, led all scorers with 24 points on 7-12 shooting, but committed 5 turnovers and got little help from his supporting cast.
Northeastern will be in action next this Tuesday, December 5th when they take on the Bucknell Bison at 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena.