Vasa Pusica scored 20 points to lead Northeastern to a 68-52 victory over Alabama on Thursday in an opening-round game in the Charleston Classic in Charleston, S.C.

The fifth-year senior guard from Serbia was joined by Jeremy Miller (11) and Bolden Brace (11) in double figures for the Huskies (2-1), who shot 52.4 percent from the field and hit 9-of-17 shots from 3-point range.

The Crimson Tide (2-1) fell behind by double digits early, and cold shooting kept them from mounting a serious threat. The Tide shot 37.3 percent from the field and hit only 3-of-19 3-point attempts.

John Petty was the only double-figure scorer for Alabama with 17 points.

Picked to win the Colonial Athletic Association, the Huskies never let the Tide get closer than seven points after building a 33-22 halftime lead. Their biggest lead was 17 points at 62-45.

The Huskies scored the first eight points of the game on their way to an early 19-7 lead. The Crimson Tide missed their first six shots before Petty broke the ice with a short jumper coming out of the under-16 media timeout.

Alabama whittled the gap to seven points on four occasions, the last at 27-20. The Tide missed all nine of their first-half attempts from behind the 3-point arc.

Northeastern will play No. 16 Virginia Tech in a semifinal game on Friday. Alabama will meet Ball State in a loser bracket's game Friday afternoon.

--Field Level Media