SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Four of the LIU Brooklyn men's basketball team's five starters scored 84 of the team's 88 points in the Chace Athletic Center Thursday night, as the Blackbirds beat Bryant in overtime, 88-85. Senior Jerome Frink led all scorers with 30 points and 10 rebounds, tying his career-high in points en route to his Northeast Conference-leading 12^th double double.  

Senior Iverson Fleming had 24 points in the game, including a long three with 12 seconds remaining in the overtime period that would prove to be the game-winning shot. Freshman Jashaun Agosto added 20 points, while junior Nura Zanna had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

With the win, LIU snaps a four-game losing streak, and improves to 15-11 on the season, and 8-5 in NEC action. The Blackbirds are currently in a three-way tie for third place in the league standings, tied with Wagner and SFU behind Mount (11-2) and FDU (9-4), both of which have clinched NEC Tournament berths.

The Blackbirds shot well right from the start of the contest, as LIU would go 5-for-5 from the field in the first three minutes of the game to take an 11-6 lead over the Bulldogs. Though the host team struggled to shoot in the early going, once they got started, they didn't stop, and the two teams would gun it out for the rest of the contest. The Bulldogs took the lead midway through the first half with the help of a 12-0 run that saw LIU held scoreless for nearly four minutes.

Frink would hit one of his career-best five three pointers at 9:16, cutting the lead to just one point, 21-20; LIU would retake the lead just over a minute later, when sophomore Raul Frias hit a jumper from the wing to make it 24-23. The two teams stayed locked from there, with LIU taking the advantage into the break. The Blackbirds turned up the heat defensively in the final minutes of the stanza, and it paid off. Zanna would convert a three-point play with 50 seconds left, had a steal and made a layup 13 seconds later. On the next play, Fleming grabbed a big defensive rebound and passed it to a sprinting Frias, who converted the layup to give LIU the lead. 10 seconds later, Frink had a steal on Bryant's possession, and was fouled on his fast break attempt. The senior would make one free throw to cap the 8-0 run, and give the Blackbirds a 39-37 lead at halftime.

Frink continued to power LIU in the second half. Just 47 seconds into the half, he hit a straight-away three-pointer. On the next play down the court, he did the exact same thing, widening LIU's lead to 45-38 on the back-to-back treys. Six minutes later, Agosto had a nearly identical sequence; the guard made a three from the corner off a pass from Fleming at 13:31, and a minute later, he hit the exact same shot to give the Blackbirds their widest lead of the game, 55-47.

Over the next five minutes, however, turnovers cost the Blackbirds. Bryant would string together an 18-6 run that saw the Bulldogs retake the lead, 67-63 with 5:49 to play. Frink would hit a three-pointer at 4:10 to tie it back up, and two minutes later, Fleming would score on back-to-back jump shots that kept the game knotted, 73-73. The guard scored 20 of his 24 points in the second stanza, including 12 straight points for the Blackbirds in the final four minutes of regulation. Fleming converted a traditional three-point play to cap his run and give LIU the lead, 76-73 with 48 seconds to play, but the Bulldogs would get a layup and a free throw to score the needed points to knot it up at 76-76, and force their second-straight overtime contest.

Fleming continued his streak into the overtime period, hitting two free throws and a three pointer to score the first five points for the Blackbirds. Agosto would make two free throws halfway through the five-minute period to widen LIU's lead to 83-78, but Bryant's Bosko Kostur hit his fifth three of the game at 2:09 to cut the lead down. Kostur would also hit two free throws with 58 seconds left that tied the game up once more, 85-85.

But it was senior Iverson Fleming who had the last word for LIU; with 14 seconds left on the clock, the guard pulled up and hit a three with a hand in his face from 22 feet out to put the Blackbirds up, 88-85. The home team would miss two three-point attempts in the final five seconds of the period, and LIU took home the crucial Northeast Conference win.  

NOTES FROM THE NEST

• Four of LIU's five starters accounted for 84 of the team's 88 points.
• Senior Jerome Frink tied his career-high with 30 points, shooting 10-of-16 from the field, and 5-of-7 from three-point range. He also finished with 10 rebounds (for his 12^th double double), two assists and two steals.
• Iverson Fleming finished with 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting, 20 of which came in the second half and overtime. The senior also tied his career-high of five assists.
• Freshman Jashaun Agosto had 20 points in 40 minutes of play, shooting 6-for-12 from the field, while redshirt junior Nura Zanna had 10 points and 11 rebounds, shooting 4-of-6 from the field.
• The Blackbirds had a season-high 21 turnovers, while Bryant had 12 steals. The Bulldogs were only able to score 11 points off of LIU turnovers, however.
• Bosko Kostur led Bryant with a career-high 26 points, including five three-pointers.
• LIU's defense held the top scorer in the NEC to just 16 points; Nisre Zouzoua was forced into 5-of-18 shooting by the Blackbirds.
• Up next, the Blackbirds host Fairleigh Dickinson, Saturday, February 11 in the Steinberg Wellness Center at 4:30 p.m. The Knights are 9-4 in the Northeast Conference, and clinched their spot in the post season tournament with a 79-62 win over CCSU at home Thursday.