BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Long Island University men's basketball team capped the 2019 calendar year with an emphatic win in the Steinberg Wellness Center Saturday night, as the Sharks (5-8) beat Division III Centenary (5-6), 125-84. LIU had six players score in double digits, and set a new program record for assists in a game.
 
SHARK STATS

• The 125 points was the most for an LIU team since 2003, when LIU lost to St. Francis Brooklyn in a double OT thriller, 142-140.
• The Sharks made 20 threes, the most for the team in a game since February of 1997.
• LIU also broke their record for three pointers attempted in a game, with 53. It's the third time this season the Sharks have chucked up 40+ three pointer attempts.
• The team had 39 assists, the most ever for an LIU squad. The team broke the previous record of 37, which was set against Medgar Evars in November of 1997.
• The team saw every single player that went in the game score, six season highs set, and six new career highs set. LIU also had two players score their first collegiate field goals (Brandon Bridgewater and Devin Nicholson). Bridgewater and Nicholson also both recorded their first collegiate blocks on defense.
• The team shot 54.7 percent from the field, their highest shooting percentage of the season. LIU also grabbed a season-high 49 rebounds and tied their season high with 12 steals.

 
GAME BREAKDOWN
LIU would jump out to an early lead, using back-to-back threes from Virshon Cotton to take a 6-0 early advantage. Centenary would never catch up. The Cyclones would hang in with the Sharks, using some threes of their own to close the gap to 12-8. LIU would use an 8-2 lead to increase the lead to 10, 23-13 with 12 minutes left in the first half, but Centenary came storming back. The Cyclones went on a 9-1 run of their own over the next two minutes, cutting LIU's lead to just two points, 24-22 with 10:31 to play. Centenary would stay close until the last four minutes of the first half. In that period, the Sharks outscored the visitors, 21-2, putting the game officially out of reach. LIU led, 60-33 at the half.
 
And the damage continued into the second half, when the Sharks opened the stanza on a 10-0 run that gave the home team a 70-33 advantage. LIU's widest lead of the game came just before the 10-minute mark, when senior Ashtyn Bradley hit back-to-back threes that put the Sharks on top, 95-48. Freshman Brandon Bridgewater scored his first collegiate points just a minute later, and then sophomore Devin Nicholson had his first collegiate three, giving LIU a 100-53 lead with 8:20 to play. Nicholson would go on to hit five more threes in the game, finishing as the Sharks' second-leading scorer. Thanks in part to back-to-back baskets, including a big dunk from sophomore Ousmane Ndim, LIU finished with a 125-84 advantage over their Division III opponents.
 
SHARK BITES

• Junior Ty Flowers led LIU with 25 points, going 11-for-13 from the field. The 25 points was a season-high, and just two shy of his career high. He also had six assists, six rebounds and two steals.
• Sophomore Devin Nicholson had a career night. In just 12 and a half minutes, Nicholson went 6-for-9 from three-point range, for a new career mark of 18 points. He also had a steal, an assist and a block.
• Sophomore Virshon Cotton had a season-high 17 points, going 7-for-12 from the field.
• Senior Raiquan Clark had 15 points for LIU, along with seven rebounds and four assists, while senior Jashaun Agosto added 10 points, seven rebounds (a season-high), five assists and three steals.
• Sophomore Jack Ballantyne rounded out the six players in double digits, with 11 points, a new career-high. He also pulled down six rebounds and had four assists, both new career marks.
• Senior Julian Batts chipped in a season and team-high eight assists in the win, along with eight points, six rebounds and two steals.
• Sophomore Ousmane Ndim added a career-high eight rebounds and three assists in the victory.
• Centenary was led by 17 points from Owen Roberts, and also had 11 points from guard Chris Labelle.
• Up next, LIU will open Northeast Conference play taking on Mount St. Mary's on the road, in a matchup that will air on CBS Sports Network, Saturday, January 4 at 2 p.m.