CHARLESTON, S.C. – Brenden Tucker registered a game-high 20 points, but College of Charleston came up short in a 68-66 down-to-the-wire thriller versus Northeastern on Sunday afternoon at TD Arena.
 
The Huskies (7-5, 6-0 CAA) remained undefeated in Colonial Athletic Association play and escaped Charleston for the second year in a row with a regular-season series sweep. Jahmyl Telfort came off the bench to lead Northeastern in the scoring column with 16 points. Shaquille Waters added 15 and Tyson Walker 10.
 
NU led by 14 points at halftime, 34-20, but as soon as the second half started, the Cougars (5-8, 3-3 CAA) sprinted out to an 18-2 run.
 
Three-pointers by Lorenzo Edwards and then Payton Willis tied the game at 40-40 with 14:09 remaining in regulation.
 
Northeastern regained control during the last four minutes of the ballgame including a timely layup by Chris Doherty with 15 seconds left to give the Huskies the 68-66 edge.
 
On the final play of the game, Zep Jasper's contested shot missed and Osinachi Smart couldn't get the tip to go in for CofC. Jasper and Willis joined Tucker in double figures with 10 each.
 
The Cougars will embark on a two-week CAA road swing with their first stop at William & Mary (4-6, 2-3 CAA) for a weekend series on Saturday, Jan. 23, and Sunday, Jan. 24 at 1 p.m. (ET) on both days in Williamsburg, Va. Both games will be televised on FloSports.
 
POSTGAME NOTES
· For the sixth-straight CAA game, College of Charleston started Zep Jasper, Payton Willis, Brenden Tucker, Lorenzo Edwards and Osinachi Smart (3-3).
· Northeastern improved to 11-7 in the all-time series with College of Charleston. It marked the Huskies' second-straight sweep of the series in regular-season conference play. Eight of the last nine contests between the two schools has been decided in single digits (-2).
· Brenden Tucker extended his double-digit scoring streak to three games with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field versus Northeastern.
· Zep Jasper reached double figures for the 10th time this season with 10 points against Northeastern. He has scored in double digits in five of the last six conference games. Jasper also made a season-best three steals versus the Huskies.
· Payton Willis turned in his 10th double-digit game of the season with 10 points including two key three-pointers in the second half versus Northeastern.
· Osinachi Smart brought down a game-high 10 rebounds against Northeastern. It was his third double-figure rebounding game of the season and fifth of his career.
 
POSTGAME QUOTES
 
College of Charleston Head Coach Earl Grant
On the game …
"I credit our guys showing some toughness and resiliency today. We were down 14 points and really worked hard to get back into the game and took the lead. We showed a lot of character. You just have to give credit to Northeastern in the last four minutes. Another game where we were up and they closed the game. They made some difficult shots. We had a breakdown or two on defense. They had very good possession where guys made some shots. To say, 'I'm not proud of my team.' That wouldn't be the truth. Here we are sitting in these games with a minute or two left in the game and we are right there to win. But, we come up short. We just have to evaluate, me and my staff, figure out how we can do better in the end of a game. I am proud of our guys' efforts. You are a possession or two from feeling really good, but you feel bad, because you lost a game. The question is, 'how good are you or how bad are you?' When you are right there. We have made progress in the last three weeks. Certainly no cigar today, because we didn't win. But, we are making progress."
 
On the final minutes and late-game scenario …
"I wasn't happy with how it unfolded. Obviously, we work on late-game situations. We had a play call. Certainly, we didn't execute it the way we needed to, so our execution wasn't good. In those situations, sometimes you call a timeout and you feel good about the decision and sometimes you don't. Obviously, we have to go back and work on our late-game situations."
 
College of Charleston Junior Guard Zep Jasper
On what Coach Grant said to the team after the game …
"He (Coach Grant) told us that he wasn't upset. We actually came back out in the second half and played hard. We held them (Northeastern) to about 35 points. We just didn't box out at the end of the game. We had key opportunities to still win the game. But, he told us we still played hard."
 
On what flipped the switch at halftime …
"We knew the first half was a bump in the road. We came into the locker room and talked about coming out strong and being ready. We knew the first five minutes would be crucial going into the second half. We knew we had to get stops. They were going to be key in the game. If we got stops, we knew we could get back into the game. We would get some flow."