(boxscore)
 12/9/06 --
The Long Island men’s basketball team had its seven-game
home win streak snapped by Harvard in an 87-79 defeat on
Saturday afternoon at the Wellness, Recreation and Athletic
Center.
The Blackbirds trailed for much of the game, but cut the deficit
to 59-58 at the 10:34 mark after senior Esa Maki-Tulokas (Forssa,
Finland) hit a three-pointer, but the Crimson answered with an
8-0 run sparked by a layup from Brad Unger to put the game away.
LIU was unable to get any closer than 75-69 at the 3:34 mark
after senior James Williams (DeSoto, Texas) hit a short jumper.
Senior Aubin Scott (Hempstead, N.Y.) posted a double-double with
15 points and 13 rebounds to lead five Long Island players in
double-figures, but Harvard shot 55.4 percent from the field
as a team and was led by Jim Goffredo’s 27 points to end
LIU’s two-game win streak.
The first half had six lead changes and 11 ties, with neither
team building a lead of more than five points. A jumper by Williams
gave Long Island its last lead of the game at 10-9 at the 15:34
mark of the first half. The Blackbirds tied the game at 28-28
after Williams made 2-of-3 foul shots, but the Crimson responded
with five straight points to build a 33-28 lead it never relinquished.
After LIU had cut it to a two-point game with 23 seconds, Harvard’s
Brad Unger hit a three-pointer with three seconds left to give
the Crimson a 44-39 lead at the break.
The Blackbirds jumped out of the gate in the second half, sophomore
Kellen Allen (Mansfield, Texas) hit two straight jumpers and
Scott added a layup following two foul shots from Harvard’s
Brian Cusworth to make it 46-45. After another foul shot from
Cusworth, sophomore Tyrone Mattison (Toronto, Canada) tied the
game at 47-47 with 17:20 to play on a coast-to-coast drive.
Harvard answered by forcing turnovers on three consecutive LIU
possessions and Goffredo scored five points during a 9-0 run
for the visitors. Freshman Jaytornah Wisseh (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
broke the run with a layup, but Goffredo hit a three-pointer
to put the Crimson up 59-49 before junior Paska Morkeliunas (Kaunas,
Lithuania) converted a layup to spark LIU’s 9-0 run to
cut the deficit to one.
Williams had 14 points to join Scott in double-figures for the
Blackbirds, while Mattison and Maki-Tulokas had 13 and 10 points,
respectively. Morkeliunas rounded out the double-figure scorers
with 12 points off the bench. Unger and Drew Housman had 15 points
apiece for Harvard, while Cusworth added 11 points, eight rebounds
and five blocks.
The Blackbirds return to action to on Sunday, Dec. 31, with a
road game at St. Peter’s in Jersey City, N.J., at 1:00
p.m.
|
