.@GoNUmbasketball tops William & Mary 90-70 behind a monster effort by Shawn Occeus. Occeus finished with 21 points and shot 7-of-12 from the field and 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. #CAAHoops
HIGHLIGHTS pic.twitter.com/eT3p4Kats2
— CAA Basketball (@CAABasketball) January 12, 2019
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. —
It looks like Shawn Occeus is rounding into form.
The junior forward –who missed 10 games this season with an ankle injury — guided the Huskies (9-8, 3-2 CAA) to a 90-70 victory over the William & Mary Tribe Saturday afternoon in Kaplan Arena. Occeus, the 2018 CAA Defensive Player of the Year, scored a game-high 21 points, notched a career-high eight assists, and added four rebounds and two steals for good measure. He shot eight of 12 from the floor and connected on five of his eight three-point attempts.
Entering the game, Occeus had scored just 6.2 points per game, shooting less than 33% in his six games.
“Today we saw Shawn again,” said Northeastern coach Bill Coen after the game.
“He spearheaded our effort on both sides of the ball…He got into the passing lanes, got into the lane, made his threes and gave us the lift we needed today.”
It’s the second straight year Northeastern has gone into Kaplan Arena and pulled out a 90-70 victory. Last year, the Huskies shot 71% from the floor in their road victory.
It wasn’t quite the same blistering performance, but Northeastern shot 60% and 48% from three (7-13) in the 2019 matchup. They scored 21 points off of 16 William & Mary turnovers.
The lead swelled to as high as 28 with 4:22 to go in the game, when Occeus buried his fifth and final triple.
“Defensively, we came out in the second half with really good energy,” Coen added.
“We married that with patient and unselfish offense and that’s a good formula.”
Junior center Nathan Knight led the Tribe with 22 points and eight rebounds. Fellow junior Justin Pierce had 14 points and seven rebounds.
The Huskies’ next test will be a tough one: a rematch of the CAA Championship with the defending champion Charleston Cougars (14-4, 3-2 CAA). Matthews Arena will play host to a 7 p.m. tip-off on Thursday, and WRBB will have the call.