Northeastern's Quincy Ford
Northeastern Tops Towson, 71-60
Rob Washburn
BALTIMORE (March 5, 2016) – Northeastern all-conference performers Quincy Ford and David Walker each scored 15 second-half points to lead the Huskies to a 71-60 victory over Towson Saturday in the fourth quarterfinal game of the Colonial Athletic Association Men’s Basketball Championship at Royal Farms Arena.
Sixth-seeded Northeastern raised its record to 18-14 and advances to a 3:30 p.m. Sunday tournament semifinal meeting with second-seeded UNCW, a 66-64 winner over College of Charleston earlier Saturday. The two teams also met in last year’s semifinals, with the Huskies posting a 78-71 victory on the way to their first CAA title. Third-seeded Towson fell to 20-12.
Ford, a senior forward/guard and second-team All-CAA honoree, finished with a game-high 20 points and Walker, a first-team all-league choice, tallied 18 points. Ford hit on seven of 14 shots and had seven rebounds in 38 minutes. Walker had three three-point field goals, hit on seven of eight free throws, and had a game-high six assists in 39 minutes.
The duo had 13 of their team’s points as Northeastern took control with a 17-6 scoring run that started five minutes into the second half. After neither squad had had more than a three-point advantage since the 16:20 mark of the opening period, Northeastern scored six straight points to lead 47-40 with 12:58 left on a Walker dunk off a Towson turnover. The Huskies raised the margin to 58-46 on Ford layup with 7:27 left with Ford contributing seven points and Walker six during the 17-6 burst.
Towson rallied to within 64-58 as sophomore guard Mike Morsell hit on three three-point field goals and had 11 points from the 7:07 to the 1:58 mark, but Northeastern hit on seven of eight free throws, including six straight by Walker, the rest of the way.
Northeastern hit on 11 of its first 15 field goal attempts during the second half and shot 61.9 percent (13-21) overall during the period and 53.5 percent (23-43) for the game. The Huskies hit on eight of 17 three-point tries for the game and on 12 of 14 second-half free throws after connecting on but five of 12 free throws during the first half.
Towson shot only 40.3 percent overall (25-63) and had connected on only seven of 18 second-half field goal attempts before Morsell’s late scoring burst. The Tigers hit on only seven of 26 three-point shots in the game.
Northeastern scored the game’s first six points on three-pointers, but Towson rallied for a 9-6 lead by the 13:24 mark of the opening half. There were seven lead changes, and the score was tied on four occasions during the first period, which ended with Towson leading 32-29. The Tigers had 20 points in the paint and eight second-chance points to Northeastern’s 10 points in the paint and no second-chance points during the opening half. Northeastern cut the points-in-the-paint margin to 34-28 during the second half and in the game scored 16 points off turnovers to only seven by Towson.
Redshirt junior forward William Adala Moto led Towson with 18 points and a game-high 12 rebounds in 31 minutes. Morsell with 16 points was the only other Tiger to score in double figures.