Box Score
Brooklyn, N.Y. – The Long Island University men’s basketball team withstood a challenge from St. Francis (N.Y.) in the second half and prevailed with a 62-53 win at the Pope PEC on Thursday night. The Blackbirds raced out to an 11-point lead in the first half and held off a Terriers rally to claim the win during Northeast Conference “Rivalry Week”. LIU moved to 9-13 overall and 7-4 in conference play with the victory.
Long Island used an 11-0 run in the early minutes of the game to take a lead that it never relinquished. Ricky Cadell hit a pair of foul shots to give St. Francis a 2-1 lead, but the Blackbirds came back with three straight three-pointers from senior
Jaytornah Wisseh and juniors
Kyle Johnson and
David Hicks before a jumper from sophomore
Michael Culpo made it 12-2 with 13:49 to play in the opening half.
St. Francis (9-13, 6-5 NEC) got a three-pointer from Stefan Perunicic to start a 10-3 spurt that cut the LIU lead to 15-12 after another three-pointer by Kayodi Ayeni. The Blackbirds, who hit nine three-pointers in the opening period, managed to push the lead back to double-digits by halftime after a three-pointer from redshirt freshman
Booker Hucks and a jumper from Wisseh just before the buzzer made it 34-23 at the intermission.
An 11-1 run spanning both halves pushed the lead to 40-23 after a layup by freshman
Kenny Onyechi with 16:26 to play. The lead grew to 46-28 on a three-pointer by Wisseh before the Terriers scratched back into the game. A jumper by Wisseh with 11:54 to play was LIU’s only field goal during a six-minute stretch when St. Francis went on an 11-2 run to make it 50-43 with 6:37 to play.
St. Francis closed to within 53-48 on an Akeem Bennett layup at the 3:33 mark, but that was as close as it would get the rest of the way as LIU went 9-for-10 from the foul line down the stretch to hang on for the nine-point win.
Wisseh led all scorers with 21 points and added six assists. Hicks added 16 points on 4-of-4 on three-pointers and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds. Johnson added 10 points and seven boards. LIU finished the game with 11 three-pointers and outrebounded the Terriers, 43-34.
Cadell led the Terriers with 13 points, while Akeem Johnson added 10 points off the bench. Bennett grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds. The Terriers entered the game shooting shooting 32 percent from three-point range, but were just 6-of-26 (.231) on the night.
The teams will face each other again on Saturday, Feb. 6, in the annual “Battle of Brooklyn.” The contest will tip off at 2:00 p.m. at LIU’s Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center.