Jaytornah Wisseh and Men's Basketball Hold Off Monmouth, 82-78 |
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Wisseh’s driving layup with 2:36 left in the game broke a 71-71 tie and gave Long Island (10-17, 6-10 NEC) a lead it would not relinquish. Senior James Williams (DeSoto, Texas) hit his only three-pointer of the night on LIU’s next possession to stretch the lead to 76-71 before Wisseh converted four straight foul shots to make it 80-75. Mike Shipman hit a three-pointer to bring Monmouth within 80-78 with 11 seconds remaining, but Wisseh iced the game with a pair of foul shots with seven seconds to play and help the Blackbirds sweep the season series with Monmouth for the first time since the 1998-99 season. Wisseh finished the game with 16 points and four assists, while committing just one turnover in 37 minutes. Junior Eugene Kotorobai (Richmond Hill, Ontario) hit his first four three-pointers and led the Blackbirds with 18 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Sophomore Tyrone Mattison (Toronto, Ontario) added 13 points off the bench, his third-straight double-figure scoring effort. Kotorobai scored nine-straight, the last three on foul shots, in the opening period to help Long Island take an early 12-10 lead. The Blackbirds stretched the lead further, using a 12-2 run midway through the half to go ahead 29-16. Consecutive trifectas from seniors Esa Maki-Tulokas (Forssa, Finland) and Evan Meekans (Providence, R.I.) started the run and a three-point play by junior Paska Morkeliunas (Kaunas, Lithuania) gave LIU its largest lead of the night with 8:37 to play in the half. Monmouth (12-16, 7-9 NEC) answered with a 12-2 run of its own to draw within two points late in the opening half. Delic scored six points during the spurt and consecutive layups from Jhamar Youngblood capped the run to make it 35-32 with 2:01 to play. Meekins hit a three-pointer to stop the rally before John Bunch converted one foul shot to make it 38-33 at halftime. Monmouth started its rally in the second half by hitting 10-of-13 shots to start the period and Dejan Delic’s three-pointer at the 11:12 mark gave the Hawks a 57-55 lead. Monmouth took its largest lead of the game at 69-66, following another three-pointer from Delic, but Long Island tied it on a three-point play by Wisseh on the next possession. Delic led all scorers with 27 points, while Marques Alston added 18 points for the Hawks. Bunch finished with 11 points and seven boards, all of which came in the first half. Monmouth shot 54.2 percent for the game, including an impressive 64.3 percent effort in the second half. Long Island shot 44.6 percent from the floor and went 21-of-29 from the foul line, compared to just 8-of-13 for Monmouth. Long Island, which is now one game behind Monmouth in the NEC
standings, travels to Loretto, Pa., for a game against Saint
Francis (Pa.) on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 7:00 p.m.
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2/20/07
-- The Long Island University men’s
basketball team kept its Northeast Conference playoff hopes alive
with an 82-78
win over Monmouth on Tuesday night at the Wellness, Recreation
and Athletic Center. Freshman Jaytornah Wisseh (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
went a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line down the stretch to help
the Blackbirds pick up the win on Senior Night.