BROOKLYN, N.Y. – For the second time in as many games, the LIU Brooklyn men's basketball team scored first and led wire-to-wire, beating Saint Francis U., 83-67 at home Thursday night. The win, LIU's fourth straight, moves the Blackbirds to 13-13 on the season, and 8-5 in the Northeast Conference. LIU is now in a two-way tie with St. Francis Brooklyn for third place in the standings, just one game back from Mount St. Mary's with five games left in the regular season.
 
It was a total team effort for the Blackbirds in the Steinberg Wellness Center. Senior Joel Hernandez led all scorers with 25 points, along with six rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Jashaun Agosto added 19 points and eight rebounds, while junior Raiquan Clark had 12 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth double double of the season.
 
"They're playing tough, good basketball right now," head coach Derek Kellogg said after the game. "We seem fresh and energized, and the guys seem to enjoy playing together right now, which is the most important thing this time of year. We still have five games left in the regular season, so there's still a lot of meat in the schedule. But I think they're enjoying coming to the gym and we're having some fun, and at the same time, we're playing hard and we're competing."
 
The Blackbirds went up early, scoring first and going on an 11-4 run over the first four minutes of the game. Saint Francis U., who struggled with shooting throughout the game, kept chipping away, and had a stretch where they went 4-for-4 from the field to cut the lead down to three points, 26-23. But sophomore Julian Batts drained a long three at 8:08, and Hernandez had a cutting layup that pushed the gap back to eight points, 31-23 with 7:23 left in the first half.
 
Back-to-back three pointers from Raul Frias at the five-minute mark would give the Blackbirds a 13-point cushion, and two minutes later, the junior would have a put-back dunk that made it 41-28, with 3:22 to play in the half. Neither team would score in the final two minutes of the half, and LIU took a 45-31 advantage into the break.
 
The visitors would show a renewed energy coming out of the halftime break, and were able to close the lead to single digits in the first five minutes. But Hernandez would score five straight points for LIU to push the lead to 59-45 at 13:40. Again, SFU would rally to come back within nine, 68-59 at the six-minute mark, but LIU would answer emphatically, with help from shoddy shooting from the visitors. Over the next four minutes, LIU would go on a 15-4 run to take a 20-point lead. The Red Flash would shoot 2-for-10 from the field in that span, including 0-for-7 from three-point range, helping the Blackbirds put the game out of reach for good, 83-67.
 
NOTES FROM THE NEST

• Saint Francis struggled in every shooting category Thursday, including field goal percentage (37.3), three-pointers (23.8 percent) and free throws (52.2 percent). In contrast, the Blackbirds shot 51.6 percent from the field (including 59.4 percent in the first half), and 84.6 percent from the free throw line.
• The Blackbirds out-rebounded the Red Flash, 48-33, but defensively, SFU forced 16 turnovers, including 10 steals.
• LIU finished the game with 14 assists as a team, 12 of which came in the first half.
• Joel Hernandez led all scorers with 25 points, on 11-of-22 shooting, along with six rebounds and four assists.
• Jashaun Agosto had 19 points, on 7-for-12 shooting, along with eight rebounds.
• Raiquan Clark had 12 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth double double of the season.
• Julian Batts added nine points, while Raul Frias added eight, and freshman Eral Penn had six points, five rebounds and two blocks.
• Up next, the Blackbirds host Robert Morris, Saturday, February 10 at 4:30 p.m.