On day one of the three-day tournament, the Huskies walked off the floor of the Poliforum Benito Juarez a dejected crew. After taking a 71-49 shellacking to Saint Louis, Northeastern fell to 2-6 having dropped six consecutive contests. Approximately 1,727 miles from Boston and struggling to find an identity on the court the team was lost in every sense of the word.

Yet with the season seemingly slipping away, the Huskies responded by turning in two strong wins, a 77-67 triumph over East Tennessee State and an 86-78 victory over Texas State, two victories that have players and coaches alike sporting a new sense of confidence.

“This is a turning point in our season,” sophomore guard Jon Lee said.

After chipping in with 12 points in the win over the Buccaneers Thursday, Lee turned in his strongest collegiate performance, exploding for a game-high and career-high 22 points on Christmas Eve in a win over the Bobcats.

The significance of the victory took on greater meaning considering the circumstances NU faced in the contest. Facing a Texas State team that had just broken a seven-game slump the day prior, Northeastern struggled to keep up with the Bobcats’ fast break attack and found itself trailing by 17 points with 15:56 remaining. Lee’s ability to get to the basket using his left hand gave the Huskies a major advantage as he scored 15 points to help NU go on a 46-21 run to close the game. He was joined in double-figures by senior captain and guard Chaisson Allen (18 points), freshman forward Ryan Pierson (17 points) and sophomore guard Joel Smith (16 points).

“Jon is our emotional leader, he makes us go,” head coach Bill Coen said. “I couldn’t be happier for him.”

The Huskies’ turnaround began with a victory over ETSU. Coen chose to tweak his starting lineup, inserting senior forward Vinny Lima and freshman guard Alex Harris into the mix to give the team more 3-point shooting options. The strategy paid off as Northeastern went 11-18 shooting 3-pointers, a remarkable 61 percent average from downtown.

With four legitimate shooting options on the floor at all times, the Bucs struggled to cover all zones on defense as NU spread out its offense. This allowed Pierson room inside the paint to operate in which he led the team in scoring with 19 points. Allen was second in scoring with 18 points while Harris and Lee also reached double-digits with 14 and 12 respectively.

Pierson’s double-digit scoring efforts earned him Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Rookie of the Week honors. He is the second NU freshman to earn CAA Rookie honors, joining Harris who was named Rookie of the Week to begin the season after scoring 12 points in a 66-64 win over Boston University Nov. 12 and eight points in a 63-62 overtime victory at Southern Illinois Nov. 16.

The back-to-back victories were in stark contrast to the 22-point loss to Saint Louis in which the Huskies turned the ball over 17 times and never seemed in the game. By bouncing back with two wins over ETSU and Texas State, the Huskies improved to 4-6 on the season.

Next up, the squad will return to action tomorrow by taking on Princeton in the UCF Holiday Classic held at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Fla. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. NU will also play either UCF or Furman Thursday depending on Wednesday’s results.

Though the Huskies will have to go up against formidable opponents at the UCF tourney – the three other teams all sport records of 8-2 or better – the Cancun portion of the holiday travel has thus far been a repeat of last season’s. NU began the 2009-10 campaign 2-7 before running off 11 straight wins, a streak that began in a tournament in Hawaii.

After the win over ETSU, Coen said he believes the Cancun Governor’s Cup could be a similar catalyst for this season’s team.

“These tournaments are funny,” Coen said. “We kind of found ourselves last year in Hawaii and we’re hoping today is the start of things.”