BROOKLYN, N.Y. – With senior and team captain Jerome Frink out for the night, and redshirt junior Nura Zanna limited by foul trouble, the LIU Brooklyn men's basketball team saw its freshmen and sophomores step up to take the lead Saturday in the Steinberg Wellness Center. The Blackbirds (14-11, 7-4 NEC) nearly beat Saint Francis in a big Northeast Conference matchup, but fell in the final seconds to the Red Flash (11-12, 8-4 NEC), 80-78.

Four Blackbirds scored in double digits, led by freshman point guard Jashaun Agosto, who had 19 points. Classmate Julian Batts had a career-high 14 points, along with a game and career-high seven assists. Senior Iverson Fleming added 12 points, while sophomore Julius van Sauers had a career-high 11 points.
Saint Francis opened the game jumping out to a quick 6-3 lead. LIU would tie it up at 15:29, on a made three-pointer from van Sauers, and took the lead for the first time just under a minute later, on a free throw from sophomore Raul Frias, 11-10. van Sauers would hit another three pointer at 12:25 that sparked a 6-1 spurt for LIU that put the home team up four, 17-13 with 11 minutes to play in the first.

The two teams traded runs from there. Saint Francis went up by as many as five points in the first half, but LIU would end the stanza on an 11-3 run. Batts and van Sauers hit back-to-back threes just before the two-minute mark, and Agosto would hit another trey as the buzzer sounded to put the home team up, 41-34 at the break.

LIU's momentum carried into the second half when Agosto hit a three on the first possession. Batts would add another, along with two free throws at 15:58. Sophomore Raiquan Clark had a cutting dunk off the pass from Batts at 14:59, that would give the Blackbirds their largest lead of the day, 55-43. But SFU's Josh Nebo answered with a dunk on the next trip down the court, and Isaiah Blackmon hit two three pointers on his own that would negate the LIU run, and cute the lead to just three points, 57-54.

Fleming had a layup at 10:31 that would put the Blackbirds back up seven, 61-54, but it wasn't enough to stop the surge. Over the next three minutes, Saint Francis went 6-for-7 from the field putting together a 14-4 run that would give the Red Flash back the lead, 68-65 with 6:16 to play. Fleming and Agosto would both hit big shots in the final four minutes to tie the score up and force the visitors into a pressure situation. Freshman Julian Batts hit two three pointers in the final 15 seconds of the game that brought LIU within one point of the win, but SFU's Jamal King made a free throw and then missed the second on purpose to ice the win as the clock ran down, 80-78.
 
NOTES FROM THE NEST

• The Blackbirds were led by freshman Jashaun Agaosto, who had 19 points and two assists. Classmate Julian Batts added a career-high 14 points, along with seven assists and three steals.
• Senior Iverson Fleming had 12 points, five rebounds and three assists before he fouled out Saturday, while sophomore Julius van Sauers had 11 points on 100 percent shooting. The forward went 3-for-3 from the field, including 3-for-3 from three-point range, and 2-for-2 from the free throw line.
• LIU seemed to have recovered from free throw shooting issues, and shot 77.4 percent from the free throw line as a team.
• Up next, the Blackbirds head north to Smithfield, Rhode Island, where they'll take on Bryant, Thursday, February 9 at 7 p.m.