BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The LIU Brooklyn men's basketball fell to local rival St. Francis Brooklyn at home Monday afternoon, 79-70. The Terriers led wire-to-wire despite 29 points and 14 rebounds from LIU senior Raiquan Clark. With the loss, LIU moves to 9-9 overall, and 3-3 in the Northeast Conference.
 
St. Francis Brooklyn jumped out to an early lead, making four of their first five shots to take a 13-1 advantage over LIU in the first four minutes of play. The Blackbirds would get on the board 45 seconds later, when senior Ty Flowers scored LIU's first field goal of the game. Just a few minutes later, an 8-3 run by the Blackbirds would close the gap to four points, 26-21 with 7:24 to play.  
 
But the Terriers would put together a 17-3 run that widened the lead back up, as they went ahead, 45-26. Clark would score five straight points on his own to limit the damage, but SFBK ended the period on a 5-0 run of its own, taking a 50-31 lead into the halftime break.  
 
A different Blackbird team came out of the locker room in the second half, and started to make a run right away. LIU would score nine unanswered points to start the period, closing the lead to just 10 points in four minutes. The Blackbirds were able to capitalized on a slowed SFBK offense, and extended the run to a 17-2 spree that closed the lead to just four points, 52-48, including 10 points from Clark. LIU stayed close from there, until back to back baskets from the Terriers would give them some breathing room, 64-53. The visiting team then used another 5-2 run to go up 12 on LIU, 69-57 with just over four minutes left to play.
 
The Blackbirds didn't stop battling, and would close the lead to 72-66 with just under a minute to play, but the Terriers went 7-for-8 from the free throw line in the final 60 seconds, and would take the win, 79-70.
 
NOTES FROM THE NEST

• Raiquan Clark had his fourth double-double of the season, with 29 points and 14 rebounds. The senior also drew 16 fouls in the game, of SFBK's 24 total, scoring 13 of his points from the free throw line.
• Sophomore Ty Flowers had 12 points and seven rebounds for LIU, while junior Julian Batts was just one board away from a double double, with 11 points and nine rebounds.
• Junior Julius van Sauers added eight points, six rebounds and three assists.
• The Blackbirds had one of their lowest three-point percentages of the season, making just 15.8 percent of their attempted threes (3-for-19). LIU also shot 36.2 percent from the field as a team in the loss.
• SFBK was led by 20 points and seven rebounds from Jalen Jordan, while Deniz Celen (18 pts) and Glenn Sanabria (15 pts) helped lead the Terriers to a win. SFBK is now 4-2 in the NEC.
• Up next, the Blackbirds travel south to take on Mount St. Mary's, Thursday, January 24 at 7 p.m.