Frink
Bryant Logo
88
Bryant 8-23, 5-13 NEC
LIU Brooklyn Logo
83
LIU Brooklyn 15-14, 9-9 NEC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 Total
Bryant 43 45 88
LIU Brooklyn 32 51 83

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Furious Comeback Falls Short as Men's Basketball Upended by Bryant, 88-83

Sacred Heart <br><i>NEC Tournament Quarterfinals</i> logo

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NEC Tournament Quarterfinals

3/2/2016 - 7:00 p.m.

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BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Junior Jerome Frink registered his ninth double-double of the season with 23 points and 11 rebounds, and sophomore Martin Hermannsson had another standout performance, narrowly missing a triple-double with 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. But the LIU Brooklyn men's basketball team could not overcome hot-shooting Bryant in an 88-83 loss on Saturday afternoon at the Steinberg Wellness Center.

The Bulldogs shot 61.5 percent from the field and a blistering 14-for-25 from three-point range in snapping its 12-game losing streak. LIU finishes the regular season with a 15-14 mark and an even 9-9 in NEC play. The Blackbirds have earned the No. 6 seed in the upcoming NEC Tournament and will take on No. 3 Sacred Heart on Wednesday, March 2 in Fairfield, Conn.

LIU opened the game strong, jumping out to a 12-7 lead following a three-pointer from sophomore Trevin Woods at the 14:30 mark. The lead was 14-10 following two free throws from junior Iverson Fleming, before Bryant forward Gus Riley connected on a pair of three-pointers to bookend an 8-0 spurt that turned the tides.

Riley continued his near single-handed dismantling of the LIU Brooklyn defense, hitting two more from beyond the arc along with three-pointers from both Curtis Oakley and Nisre Zouzoua that accounted for all 12 points in a 12-0 run that bolstered Bryant's lead to 36-22.

The Blackbirds responded with 10 straight points of their own, including five from Hermannsson to draw to within 36-32, before the Bulldogs closed the half with seven straight - including another three-pointer from Zouzoua - to head into intermission with a 43-32 lead. Riley, Zouzoua and Marcel Pettway accounted for 40 of their team's 43 points in the period, while Frink led the charge for LIU with 11.

Bryant fended off every attempt the Blackbirds made through the first 13 minutes of the second stanza, maintaining a double-figure cushion until LIU Brooklyn employed a full-court press around the seven-minute mark. A layup from redshirt sophomore Nura Zanna cut LIU's deficit to 74-63 with 6:53 to go, and three free throws over the next 40 seconds from junior Joel Hernandez put the score at 74-66.

A three-point play from Shane McLaughlin pushed the visitors back in front by 11, before a three-pointer and two free throws from junior Aakim Saintil brought LIU Brooklyn to within six at 77-71 with 4:53 remaining. Following a free throw from the Bulldogs, Frink hit on a short jumper and Hermannsson canned a pair from the charity stripe that put the Blackbirds down by just a single possession at 78-75.

The advantage floated between thre and five over the next three minutes before a three-ball in the left corner from Hernandez cut the margin to just two, 83-81, with 1:07 on the clock. The two teams traded free throws on the next two possessions before Bryant missed on one of its attempts with 21.7 remaining. With the score at 86-83, LIU Brooklyn had two attempts from three-point range to tie the game but both were off the mark and Bryant sealed the game with two free throws.

Zouzoua finished with a game-high 29 points on 10-for-15 shooting, Pettway closed with 19 points and McLaughlin had 12 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds for Bryant. Hernandez finished with 14 points and seven boards while Saintil was the fourth LIU player to reach double figures with 11.