VESTAL, N.Y. – The LIU Brooklyn men's basketball team capped their non-conference schedule with a big road win Friday night, beating Binghamton, 74-66. The Blackbirds shot 56.5 percent from the field, led by Joel Hernandez and Raiquan Clark, who had 25 and 23 points respectively.
 
Sophomore Julian Batts opened scoring in the game for the Blackbirds with a three that set the tone. Hernandez would hit two more three pointers and Clark had a layup that helped LIU take the early lead, 13-9. Binghamton, playing without one of their top players in Thomas Bruce, would rally to tie the game up at 13:06, but junior Raul Frias hit a three that would put the Blackbirds back on top, where they stayed for the rest of the first half. Another trey from Batts at the six-minute mark would give LIU its widest lead of the first half, 27-19. But the home team was able to whittle the lead back down, and would hit a long three-pointer as the clock ran down to end the half, cutting the gap to just one point, 30-29 at the break.
 
The Bearcats would come out of the break and hit a three pointer that gave the home team its first lead of the game, but LIU didn't stay down for long. Foul trouble for Binghamton's big men helped pave the way for LIU. Freshman Eral Penn had a layup at 17:46 that tied the game up, and was the first basket of an 8-0 run for the Blackbirds. Jashaun Agosto would convert a traditional three-point play at 16:24 that put LIU up, 40-34.
 
The two teams would trade points back and for the next three minutes, until LIU went on a 7-0 run that widened the gap for good. Clark, who scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half, had a layup and two free throws that gave the Blackbirds the 53-43 lead with 12 minutes left to play.
 
Binghamton, who had struggled with shooting for most of the game, started to find their offensive firepower over the next five minutes, going 3-for-3 from the field as a part of a 10-4 run that closed LIU's lead down to three points with four minutes left in the game. But the Blackbirds would put the game away in the final minute and a half. Clark would score all 10 of LIU's final points, making a put-back layup, and shooting 8-for-10 from the free throw line, in an effort that would widen the Blackbird lead back up, 74-66. The Bearcats would miss a couple of late shots that would have helped closed the gap, and LIU clinched its first road victory of the season.
 
NOTES FROM THE NEST

• Joel Hernandez had 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting, eight rebounds and four assists.
• Raiquan Clark had 21 of his 23 points in the second half, including 11 made free throws on 15 attempts. He also had five rebounds in the victory.
• Sophomore Julian Batts had eight points, while classmate Jashaun Agosto added seven points, four rebounds and three assists. Freshman Eral Penn had five rebounds and four points.
• The Blackbirds, who led for 87 percent of the game, outrebounded Binghamton 33-25.
• It was the first road win for LIU this season, and the Blackbirds move to 5-8 overall.
• Up next, LIU opens Northeast Conference play. The Blackbirds will host Fairleigh Dickinson, Friday, December 29 at 4:30 p.m., in the second half of a doubleheader with the women's team at the Steinberg Wellness Center.