BRONX, N.Y. – The LIU Brooklyn men's basketball team finished off the 2018 calendar year and their non-conference schedule with a flourish, rallying from a 12-point deficit to beat Fordham Sunday night, 60-57. With the win, LIU improves to 6-6 before the start of Northeast Conference play, while Fordham moves to 9-4.
The Rams, who led for 37 of the game's 40 minutes, fell victim to a late scoring surge driven by senior
Raiquan Clark. Clark scored 19 of his team-leading 23 points in the second half, including the final three game-winning free throws. The Blackbirds outscored Fordham 14-4 over the final five minutes of the game, led by 10 points from Clark.
Fordham jumped out to an early lead as the game got started, 12-5, and it took most of the first half for the Blackbirds to battle back. With just over five minutes left in the half, senior
Raul Frias hit a three pointer that would tie the game up, 17-17. But the home team would end the half on a scoring streak, including a three pointer as the buzzer sounded, to lead by ten at the break, 36-26.
Coming out of the half, LIU started on a run, using points from Clark and
Ty Flowers to go on a 7-0 streak over two minutes, and closing the lead to 36-33. But Fordham answered by scoring nine unanswered points, and taking their widest lead of the game, 45-33 with 15:52 to play. The Blackbirds would keep chipping away at the lead, however, and two minutes later, a three-pointer from Clark would whittle the lead down to single digits. From there, LIU stayed in striking distance, but the Rams maintained the lead.
LIU would tie the game up at the 2:20 mark, when junior
Julius van Sauers hit a huge three-pointer to tie it up, 55-55. A free throw from
Jashaun Agosto within one, 57-56 in the final 90 seconds, and from there, Clark went 4-for-4 from the free throw line to help ice the win for LIU, 60-57.
NOTES FROM THE NEST
- Raiquan Clark finished with 23 points, going 12-for-17 from the free throw line, along with seven rebounds.
- The Blackbirds shot just 38.5 percent from the free throw line in the first half, but led by Clark, improved to finish the day shooting 66.7 percent.
- Sophomore Ty Flowers finished with his second straight double double, putting up 13 points and 11 rebounds, along with two assist and two steals.
- Eral Penn and Jashaun Agosto both had seven points for LIU in the win.
- Up next, the Blackbirds open NEC play by heading north. LIU will take on Sacred Heart, Thursday, January 3rd at 7 p.m. in Fairfield, Conn.