NEC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The LIU Brooklyn men's basketball team will head north for the quarterfinal round of the Northeast Conference men's basketball championship tournament Wednesday night. The No. 6-seeded Blackbirds, defending NEC Champions, will take on No. 3 seed Sacred Heart in the Pitt Center March 6. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m.
NOTES FROM THE NEST
- LIU won four of their last five games in the regular season to clinch a spot in the playoffs, but had some help to move into the No. 6 seed spot. The Blackbirds finished the regular season with two emphatic wins at home, beating CCSU 84-55, and beating Bryant, 81-65, to finish the year 15-15 overall, and 9-9 in the NEC.
- Sacred Heart also ended the season on the winning streak, beating their last three opponents to finish the year with an 11-7 record in league play, and 15-16 overall.
- Sacred Heart was picked to finish ninth in the league's preseason poll, but earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament behind head coach Anthony Latina, NEC Defensive Player of the Year Jare'l Spellman, the NEC's Most Improved Player of the Year EJ Anosike, and first team All-NEC honoree Sean Hoehn. And two rookies, Cameron Parker and Korrem Ozier were both named to the NEC's All-Rookie team.
- The Blackbirds lead the all-time series between the two teams, 26-12. This year, the two teams split the series, with each team winning at home. Sacred Heart had a 79-75 win over the Blackbirds in the NEC season opener in early January, before LIU beat the Pioneers in Brooklyn, 92-84 on February 16.
- LIU holds a 2-0 record over SHU in the NEC Tournament. The last time the two teams met was in the 2016 NEC Quarterfinals, when No. 6 seed LIU upset No. 3 seed Sacred Heart, 84-76.
- The Pioneers are 8-1 in NEC home games this season.
- When the two teams first met in January, LIU led with just over a minute left to play, but couldn't finish it out, falling to Sacred, 79-75. Senior Raiquan Clark led the Blackbirds in the loss, putting up 28 points.
- Junior Jashaun Agosto single-handedly put LIU back within striking distance in that game, with a layup and a three-pointer that brought LIU back within one point, 74-73 with just over two minutes left, and Julian Batts would put the Blackbirds on top a minute later. The junior had a big offensive board and putback layup that gave LIU a 75-74 lead with 1:25 to play. But a big three by SHU down the stretch and two made free throws in the final seconds of the game gave Sacred Heart the edge in the end, and the first conference win of the season, 79-75.
- First half shooting proved to be the difference in the end. Both teams were over 50 percent from the field in the first stanza, but SHU shot 63.6 percent from behind the arc, compared to LIU's 8.3 percent. In the end, the Blackbirds shot just 20 percent from three-point range, along with 47.1 percent from the free throw line (8-for-17).
- Clark led all scorers with 28 points, on 11-for-20 shooting. He also had five rebounds, three steals and two assists. Agosto was the only other Blackbird in double digits, as he had 14 points and seven assists.
- It was a different story in downtown Brooklyn as LIU put on a dominating performance in the Steinberg Wellness Center, beating Sacred Heart, 92-84. The Blackbirds had nine different players score in the win, including two 20-point performances from sophomore Ty Flowers and 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.
- 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. Clark had 24 points and seven rebounds. Agosto had 11 points and seven rebounds, while Batts added 10 points.
- 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).
- Up next, the winner advances to the NEC semifinals, with the teams reseeding after the quarterfinal round, and the highest remaining seeds hosting.