Four Players Reach Double Figures as Men's Basketball Opens NEC Schedule With 74-71 Victory over Monmouth |
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LIU claimed its first win at Boylan Gym since January 9, 1999, by shooting 13-for-20 (65.0 percent) from three-point range. The Blackbirds never trailed in the game, jumping out to a 6-0 lead, while holding the Hawks without a field goal in their first five attempts. After Monmouth trimmed the Long Island lead to 14-12, LIU got three straight three-pointers from junior Eugene Kotorobai (Richmond Hill, Ontario). He nearly had a fifth straight, but was fouled and injured on the attempt. Senior Tyrone Mattison (Toronto, Canada) hit all three foul shots to give LIU a 26-16 lead. The Blackbirds pushed the lead to 38-21 after Mattison converted a three-point play at the 3:15 mark. The Hawks closed out the half by scoring the final eight points to cut the lead to 38-29. Long Island continued to connect from beyond the arc to start the second half, hitting a pair of threes to go ahead 44-31, before the Hawks ran off six straight points to cut the LIU lead to seven with 16:38 to go. Jhamar Youngblood sparked the Hawks in the second half after Williams hit his second three of the half, the Monmouth rookie converted a baseline drive to make it 52-46. Youngblood closed the deficit to 61-59 with 7 minutes, 55 seconds left and the Hawks had a chance to tie on the next possession, but Dejan Delic missed on a jumper. The Blackbirds responded by scoring six straight to put the game away, four of them from freshman Jaytornah Wisseh (Brooklyn, N.Y.) to put LIU up 67-59. Youngblood, who scored all 20 of his points in the second half, hit a layup to pull the Hawks within 69-66. A three-pointer from Mattison put the Blackbirds up six before Whitney Coleman answered with a trey for the Hawks with 1 minute, nine seconds remaining. The teams traded layups on consecutive possessions, before LIU got possession with 19.1 seconds remaining. Mattison missed a short jumper and Monmouth got the rebound, but Coleman's three-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark and LIU claimed the victory. Senior Aubin Scott (Hempstead, N.Y.) notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Mattison finished with 15 points. Kotorobai scored all 12 of his points in the first half. Wisseh finished with a career-high eight assists, against just one turnover. The Blackbirds return to action
on Saturday, Dec. 9, with a 4:00 p.m. game in the Wellness
Center against Harvard.
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12/7/06
-- The Long Island University men's basketball team held
off Monmouth for a 74-71 win in the Northeast Conference opener
for both schools on Thursday night at Boylan Gym. The Blackbirds
had four players in double-figures paced by senior James Williams'
(De Soto, Texas) 17 points.