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Drexel loses to Northeastern to end regular season, still earns bye in conference tournament

Despite a 90-66 loss, the Dragons have clinched the No. 6 seed. They play No. 3 Charleston on Sunday, March 10.

Drexel's Camren Wynter scores on this layup in the first half against Northeastern.
Drexel's Camren Wynter scores on this layup in the first half against Northeastern.Read moreMarc Narducci/STAFF

Even though Drexel lost its regular-season finale to Northeastern on, the news wasn’t all bad for the Dragons.

That’s because with Towson losing to Elon, Drexel clinched the No. 6 seed in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, which begins Saturday in South Carolina. The Dragons will enter the CAA tournament having lost five of six following Saturday’s 90-66 defeat to Northeastern at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Earning the sixth seed is a big deal because the No. 7 through 10 teams have to compete in opening-round games. With the bye, Drexel (13-18, 7-11) will play Sunday, March 10, in an 8:30 p.m. quarterfinal against No. 3 seed Charleston, the defending CAA tournament champion. Drexel and Charleston split their games this season, each winning on the road.

“We are 40 minutes closer to the NCAA tournament than four other teams, and I think we earned it with our play over the course of the season,” Drexel coach Zach Spiker said about earning the bye.

Northeastern (20-10, 14-4) knew before the game that it would be the No. 2 seed behind Hofstra. On Thursday, Hofstra clinched the top seed with an 80-77 win at Drexel.

Against Northeastern, Drexel trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, but got within 37-33 at halftime after Coletrane Washington sank a three-pointer from inside halfcourt at the buzzer.

Northeastern scored 19 unanswered points to put this game away before the midway point of the second half, extending its lead to 60-37 on a Vasa Pusica layup with 11 minutes, 49 seconds left.

A 6-foot-5 redshirt senior from Serbia, Pusica is in his second season at Northeastern after playing at San Diego his first two years. Last season, he was runner-up for the league’s player of the year.

Against Drexel, he had 21 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and no turnovers. Redshirt junior guard Jordan Roland scored a game-high 26 points for the Huskies.

Drexel guard Camren Wynter had 19 points, eight assists, and no turnovers. He set the Drexel single-season assist record for a freshman, now with 168. He entered the game tied with junior Kurk Lee, who has played only six games this season because of injury.

Junior forward Alihan Demir added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Dragons.

With this being Drexel’s final home game of the season, the team’s three seniors were honored pregame -- guard Kevin Doi, graduate transfer Trevor John from Cal Poly, and Troy Harper, who suffered a season-ending foot injury during practice last week. The coach would have liked a better farewell.

“Today was not the outcome we wanted, and now we rebound and try to get healthy,” Spiker said.

Among those in questionable health is 6-8 sophomore Jarvis Doles, who did not play. Afterward when asked, Spiker said Doles would be seeing a doctor.