BROOKLYN, N.Y. – It was an optimistic start to the 2017-18 season in the Steinberg Wellness Center, as the LIU Brooklyn men's basketball team earned its first win of the Coach Derek Kellogg era, beating the College of New Rochelle, 104-68. The Blackbirds had five different players score in double figures, and ten different players get on the board.
 
It was the most points scored by an LIU team since 2012 (a 103-91 win over Sacred Heart), and it was the first time LIU had five or more double-digit scorers since December of 2015. It was also the third year in a row that LIU has won its home opener in the Steinberg Wellness Center.
 
New Rochelle got on the board first in the contest, and would go point for point with the Blackbirds in the first eight minutes of the game. LIU led by just three points at 12:49, 17-14. But the Blackbirds started to pull away not long after, when senior Joel Hernandez hit a three-pointer. The tre was the start of a 10-2 run by LIU that would widen the lead to 11 points over the next three minutes, 27-16 at 9:47.
 
A 13-5 run would give the Blackbirds their widest lead of the first half, when a three from Jashaun Agosto made it 42-26 with just over five minutes left. CNR would drain a three pointer and hit a jumper to cut the lead back down to eight, but freshman Eral Penn would make a layup as the clock ran down, giving the Blackbirds a 51-39 lead at halftime.
 
The Blue Angels would hang in with LIU at the start of the second half, but a 9-0 run by the Blackbirds started to increase the distance. Sophomore Julian Batts would hit a three pointer off a pass from Raiquan Clark that pushed LIU up 19, 60-41. He'd hit another one just two minutes later to put the Blackbirds up by 24 with 14:46 to play.
 
The Blackbirds would lead by as many as 38 points in the win, and move to 1-2 on the season with the victory.
 
NOTES FROM THE NEST
- Joel Hernandez led LIU with 19 points, going 6-for-10 from the field, along with nine rebounds and two assists.
- Fifth-year Zach Coleman had the first double-double of the season for the Blackbirds, with 11 rebounds, 10 points and two blocks.
- Sophomores Jashaun Agosto and Julian Batts both had strong stat lines for LIU. Agosto finished with 16 points, three assists and three rebounds, while Batts had 11 points, four steals, three rebounds and three assists.
- Junior Raiquan Clark finished with 17 points, six rebounds, and a team-high five assists, a new career high.
- Fifth year Jamall Robinson also led the team with five assists, along with six points, while junior Raul Frias added eight points.
- The freshmen duo of Eral Penn and Shyheim Hicks both had seven points in the win for the Blackbirds.
- LIU outrebounded CNR 56-38, and had a season-high 22 assists as a team.
- Up next, the Blackbirds head to Montego Bay to take part in the 2017 Jamaica Classic. LIU will take on Miami (Ohio) and Hartford in two games over two days, November 17 and 18^th.