STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Behind a career-high 27 points from junior Aakim Saintil and numerous big plays down the stretch from classmate Jerome Frink, the LIU Brooklyn men's basketball team erased a 17-point, second-half deficit to earn an exhilarating 71-70 win over Wagner in Northeast Conference action on Thursday evening. The Blackbirds committed just two second-half turnovers and shot 17-for-21 from the free-throw line in the stanza to improve to 8-8 on the year and 2-3 in NEC play.

The Seahawks, who began the second half with a 13-point cushion, scored the first four points of the period to open up a 43-26 lead with 19:11 remaining before LIU made an impressive rally to get back into the game. A jumper from sophomore Martin Hermannsson off an inbounds feed from Saintil ignited a run of 17 straight points that tied the score at 43-43. Saintil was the catalyst, scoring seven straight points over the nearly six-minute stretch that was capped by a steal and dunk by Frink.

Wagner came right back with five straight, all from Romone Saunders, and another three-pointer from Saunders at the 11:36 mark put the home team on top, 53-46. The Blackbirds, however, showed their resiliency once again with an 8-0 run that included four free throws from Saintil and two more from Frink. A driving layup by Hermannsson put LIU on top 54-53 with 8:10 left.

From there, the contest was nip and tuck the remainer of the way. Wagner looked destined to pull away after a free throw from Dwaun Anderson put the Seahawks on top 67-61 with just under three minutes left. But a big three-pointer from Saintil cut the margin to three with 2:38 on the clock. Another hoop in the paint from Frink brought the Blackbirds to within one and, after a free throw from Henry Brooks put the score at 68-66, the 6-7 forward continued his clutch play with a spinning layup that tied the game.

Following a Seahawks timeout with under a minute left, junior Glenn Feidanga came up with a steal at the opposing free-throw line and unleashed an outlet pass to a streaking Frink who slammed home the go-ahead bucket with 37 seconds remaining. The breakaway jam was part of a wild final minute that featured five missed free throws and three missed field-goal attempts by the Seahawks. Saunders hit a free throw to cut the LIU lead to 70-69, before Hermannsson went to the charity stripe with 11 seconds left for two shots.

Hermannsson entered the contest having made 19 straight free throws in NEC play and had gone 2-for-2 at the line to that point. But the Icelandic guard uncharacteristically missed on his first attempt before making the second to bump the margin back to 71-69. After another defensive stop by the Blackbirds, Feidanga had an opportunity to ice the game with 2.7 seconds left but missed on both of his chances from the free-throw line before fouling Corey Henson with 1.8 to go.

Henson stepped to the line with a chance to tie and made the first shot but missed the second. A pair of tip-in chances by Anderson and Michael Carey were off the mark as the Blackbirds picked up their second NEC win of the year.
 
In the first half, Saintil started the contest off red hot, scoring seven of LIU Brooklyn's first nine points to give the Blackbirds a 9-7 lead at the 15:57 mark. Redshirt sophomore Nura Zanna, who matched his season high with 12 points, also had two free throws in the spurt, before Wagner turned up the defensive pressure.
 
The Seahawks, who entered allowing just 64.5 points per game to rank as the top defensive team in the Northeast Conference, forced four straight turnovers to spark a 12-0 run. JoJo Cooper and Saunders each had five points during the spurt that extended the home team's lead to 19-9. A jumper by Zanna cut the Wagner lead to 24-17, before four straight from Carey bumped the margin back to double figures.
 
With the Seahawks up 39-23 with time running down in the half, Frink hit a buzzer-beating, bank three-pointer as time expired to pull LIU Brooklyn to within 39-26 at intermission.

LIU Brooklyn continues NEC play on Saturday, Jan. 16 against Bryant. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.