Elon MBB’s Comeback Falls Short in 72-60 Loss at Northeastern

BOSTON – Elon University men’s basketball fought back in the second half, facing a 21-point halftime deficit and trailing Northeastern by as much as 25 points in the first half, but the Huskies held on for the 72-60 victory on Friday, Jan. 2, inside Matthews Arena.

BOX SCORE

After the Huskies held Elon to just 31 percent shooting in the first half and forced 12 Phoenix turnovers, the maroon and gold made 60.7 percent of its shots in the second half, including 50 percent from three-point range, to cut Northeastern’s lead to as little as four points after trailing by 21 at halftime.

Dmitri Thompson led the Phoenix (10-6, 2-1 CAA) with a team-high 19 points and 6 rebounds. Tyler Seibring added 17 points for Elon, scoring 13 of those in second half. Brian Dawkins added nine points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for the Phoenix.

Northeastern (8-6, 1-1 CAA) was paced by Vasa Pusica’s 20 points, four rebounds and four assists. Devon Begley added 12 points and five rebounds, while Maxime Boursiquot chipped in 10 points for the Huskies.

“Northeastern came out firing and got a big lead,” said head coach Matt Matheny. “I think our energy and passion in the second half was fun to watch and exciting, but in the end, we dug too big of a hole and couldn’t come all the way back.”

HIGHLIGHTS
Northeastern opened the contest with a 17-2 run over the first five minutes, which was capped off by Shawn Occeus’s three-pointer at the 15:09 mark. Elon sliced Northeastern’s lead to 11 points, 19-8, following a 6-2 run over the next two minutes capped off by Sheldon Eberhardt’s floater.

The Huskies used an 18-4 run over the next 8:55 to take its largest lead of the half, 37-12, following a three-pointer from Pusica at the 2:13 mark. Thompson led a 6-2 Elon run to end the half, scoring all six with a three-pointer and three free throws to cut Northeastern’s lead to 39-18 at the break.

Elon was limited to just 31 percent shooting and only took 17 shots in the half. The Huskies also forced the Phoenix to commit 12 turnovers and scored 15 points off the Elon giveaways.

The Phoenix began its comeback opening the second half with two big runs and outscoring the Huskies 27-10 in the first 10 minutes, led by seven points from Thompson. Elon went on a 13-2 surge in the first 4:28 to cut the 21-point deficit to 10, 41-31, forcing Northeastern to call a timeout. After Bolden Brace drained a three-pointer to end the run, Elon started another spurt of 14-5 in a 4:26 time frame to slice Northeastern’s lead to 49-45 with 9:41 remaining.

The home side responded with a 10-2 run to retake a double-digit lead 59-47 with 6:04 left in the contest. Undaunted, Elon answered with a 13-5 run to narrow Northeastern’s lead to four points again, 64-60, after Steven Santa Ana stole a pass and made a layup with 46 seconds to play.

Elon got a few possessions late with a chance to finish the comeback, but Northeastern closed out the contest with a dunk and six free throws to hold on for the 72-60 victory.

NOTES
– Dmitri Thompson (19 points) and Tyler Seibring (17 points) inched closer to the 1,000 career-point mark after tonight’s performances. Thompson has 982 points and is sitting 18 away from reaching the mark. Seibring is at 980 points and is just 20 points away.
– Thompson and Seibring each extended their double-digit scoring streak to four games.
– Thompson has now made 17 straight free throws dating back to the Dec. 19, 2017.
– Northeastern takes the 4-3 lead in the all-time series with the win over the Phoenix. It was the first time Northeastern defeated Elon at home since Jan. 31, 2015.
– The Huskies had the edge in points off turnovers (25-13) and second-chance points (17-5) in the contest. Northeastern also had an 11-4 edge on the offensive glass.
– Elon used hot shooting and solid defense to make its second half run. The Phoenix made 60.7 percent (17-28) of its shots in the second half, including 50 percent (6-12) from three in the second stanza. The maroon and gold also forced 10 Northeastern turnovers in the second half.

UP NEXT
The Phoenix closes its northern road swing on Sunday, Jan. 7, with a trip to Hofstra. The game will tip off inside the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex at 4 p.m.