BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The LIU Brooklyn men's basketball team put on a dominating performance in the Steinberg Wellness Center Saturday afternoon, beating Sacred Heart in a big Northeast Conference game, 92-84. The Blackbirds had nine different players score in the win, including two 20-point performances from sophomore Ty Flowers and senior Raiquan Clark, who each put up 24 points. LIU led Sacred Heart by as many as 21 points in the contest, leading for most of the afternoon.
 
With the win, LIU moves to 12-14 overall, and 6-8 in the NEC.
 
The Blackbirds opened up an early lead on the Pioneers, going up 4-0, and three pointers from Ty Flowers and Julian Batts helped LIU stay on top from there. LIU led for the first five minutes, but after going up, 12-8, SHU started coming back. The Pioneers would score five unanswered points to take the lead for the first time in the game, 13-12 at 14:54. They would string together a 14-2 run over the next four minutes that eventually widened that lead to 22-14 with 11:55 to play.
 
LIU would keep the pressure on, and the two teams were locked in from there, as the lead would change hands six times. In the final five minutes of the first half, the Blackbirds started to make a run. Flowers would score five straight points to spark an LIU run that lasted the rest of the half. The Blackbirds would outscore the Pioneers 17-4 over the rest of the half, including five points from junior Ashtyn Bradley, taking a 47-36 lead into the halftime break.
 
LIU would maintain their defensive pressure and hot shooting in the second half, but back to back threes by the Pioneers started to cut into the lead, 58-48 with 16:08 to go. Nine points was as close as the Pioneers would get, however. Around the 10-minute mark, LIU started putting together another run, this time an 11-4 spree, including back-to-back threes from Raul Frias and Julius van Sauers that would give the Blackbirds a 20-point advantage, 83-63. Just a minute later, Clark would hit a three of his own, giving LIU its widest lead of the game, 86-65 with 7:40 to play.
 
Sacred Heart would continue to threaten as the game wound down, outscoring LIU 17-4 over the final five and a half minutes, but the difference was too great, and the Blackbirds took the win, 92-84.
 
NOTES FORM THE NEST

• Sophomore Ty Flowers had 23 points, including shooting a near perfect 4-for-5 from three-point range, and 10-for-13 from the field. He also had three assists and a career-high five blocks.
• Senior Raiquan Clark had 24 points and seven rebounds. Junior Jashaun Agosto had 11 points and seven rebounds, while junior Julian Batts added 10 points.
• Sophomore Eral Penn the first start of his collegiate career, and had seven points and five rebounds.
• The Blackbirds had several sparks off the bench, including five points from junior Ashtyn Bradley, who played a career-high 16 minutes, and freshman Ousmane Ndim, who had two points and one rebound in four minutes of play.
• Sacred Heart was led by 23 points form Koreem Ozier, and had four players score in double digits, including Sean Hoehn (19 pts), EJ Anosike (14 pts) and Jare'l Spellman (12 points)
• The Blackbirds and the Pioneers both shot 48 percent from the field.
• Up next for the Blackbirds is a swing through the PA contingent of the NEC. LIU will take on Robert Morris, Thursday, Feb. 21 and Saint Francis U., Saturday, February 23.