James Madison 70, Northeastern 57: A.J. Davis scored 17 of his 26 points in the first half as the Dukes advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994 with a win over the top-seeded Huskies in the championship game of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament in Richmond, Va.

Northeastern erased a 24-point lead in a dramatic semifinal win over George Mason on Sunday, but could not completely recover from another dismal start as it remained without a tourney berth since 1991. Jonathan Lee led the Huskies with 14 points.

Rayshawn Goins had 14 points and 13 rebounds for third-seeded James Madison (20-14), which is in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time. Freshman Andre Nation had seven of his 10 points in the second half.

The Huskies (20-12) took a 5-3 lead before going completely cold. They were held without a field goal for nearly 13 minutes, during which the Dukes took a commanding 28-8 lead. It was 40-18 at halftime and Davis' 3-pointer with 13:47 remaining made it 48-28.

A 15-3 Northeastern burst made it an eight-point game with less than eight minutes left, but Huskies leading scorer Joel Smith fouled out seconds later and the regular-season champs hit the wall. Nation hit three free throws and added a dunk to spark a quick 7-1 surge and the celebration took off when Ron Curry threw down a dunk to make it 68-51 with 2:44 left.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Davis finished the first half 6-for-9 from the floor. Northeastern was 5-for-24. ... Curry's dunk gave the James Madison bench its only points. ... David Walker and Marco Banegas-Flores had 10 points apiece for the Huskies, who earned the right to participate in the NIT by winning the regular-season crown.