Northeastern cruises past UNC Wilmington 79-52

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Vasa Pusica had his 14th 20-point game of the season and No. 2 seed Northeastern beat No. 6 seed UNC Wilmington 79-52 in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament semifinals on Monday night.

Northeastern (23-9) will face top-seeded College of Charleston in the championship on Tuesday night.

The Huskies pulled away with 16 straight points to lead 66-37 and extended to their largest lead of the night at 76-46 shortly before the final.

The game was close for the first 11 minutes before the Huskies went on a 15-0 run capped by Maxime Boursiquot's layup to make it 32-17 with five minutes left in the half. UNC Wilmington (11-21) cut the deficit to nine by halftime but got no closer in the second half.

Pusica finished with 20 points, including 4-of-7 3-point shooting. Shawn Occeus added 18 points, Tomas Murphy scored 11 and Maxime Boursiquot 10.

Devontae Cacok had 15 points and nine rebounds and Jaylen Fornes scored 11 for the Seahawks. Jordan Talley, who scored a CAA Tournament-record tying 37 points in UNCW's quarterfinal win over Hofstra, had six points on 2-of-12 shooting.