Big Second Half Sends UMass Past NU, 80-71, To 3-0 On The Season

AMHERST, Mass. – Down 34-33 with 0.6 seconds remaining in the first half, freshman Sean East II launched a shot from more than 75-feet away that hit nothing but the bottom of the net, sending the Mullins Center into a frenzy and sparking a 44-point second half from the Minutemen to knock off Northeastern, 80-71, on Tuesday night at the Mullins Center.

The win moves UMass to 3-0 on the young season, its best start since 2015.

East finished the night with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting (2-of-2 from three) as one of four Minutemen in double-figures, along with seven assists. East and Keon Clergeot ran the point for the Minutemen throughout the night, combining for 11 assists and just one turnover. Freshman Tre Mitchell led all UMass players with 20 points, while Carl Pierre added 18 (14 in the second half) and T.J. Weeks had 12.

UMass was tasked with containing Northeastern guard Jordan Roland, who entered the night as the NCAA's leading scorer averaging 40.5 points per game to start the year. Roland finished with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting as one of three Huskies in double figures.

The Minutemen trailed for most of the first half thanks to Northeastern's Bolden Brace and Tomas Murphy going a combined 11-of-13 from the floor. Brace finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds to pace the Huskies while Murphy had 18 on 9-of-12 shooting.

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East from the Atlantic Ocean ... IT'S GOOD!

CC: @ESPNAssignDesk #Flagship ?? | #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/Log063Wwoj
— UMass Basketball (@UMassBasketball) November 13, 2019

The UMass offense came alive in the final 20 minutes with a 14-of-26 shooting performance from the floor, including 8-of-13 from beyond the arc. Massachusetts used an 11-2 run over nearly seven minutes midway through the second half, with seven of those points coming from Pierre as the Minutemen took the lead and never looked back, and went 8-of-9 at the free throw line in the second half to put the game out of reach.

As a team, UMass shot 47.4% for game (27-of-57), and 54% from three (14-of-26), while Northeastern was 28-of-58 from the floor (48.3%) and 8-of-25 from beyond the arc.

UMass will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when the Minutemen host CCSU at 1 p.m. on ESPN+ as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Tournament, presented by Citi.

Tickets for the 2019-20 UMass men's basketball season are now on sale for all 16 regular-season home games in the Mullins Center. Tickets can be purchased now online through the UMass Athletics Ticket Central page, by calling the ticket office at 866-UMASS-TIX, or by visiting the Mullins Center Box Office. In addition to single game tickets, all ticket options are currently available for the upcoming season including season tickets, group tickets and the new Flagship Flex Pack.

The 10-game voucher pack gives fans the flexibility to redeem vouchers for any home game, allowing purchasers to use 10 vouchers for one game, one voucher for 10 games, and every combination in between.

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