(boxscore)
 11/4/05 --
Senior James Williams (DeSoto, Texas) had a team-best 16 points
and made two critical plays down the stretch as Long Island
University used a late run to pull away from Queens College,
92-82, in men’s basketball exhibition action at the Wellness
Center on Saturday evening.
With just under two minutes remaining and the game tied at
82-82, Williams canned a three-pointer from the left corner
to give the Blackbirds a three-point lead. After an old-fashioned
three-point play by junior Paska Morkeliunas (Kaunus, Lithuania)
pushed LIU ahead by six, Williams came up with a defensive
steal and made a length-of-the-court pass to freshman Jaytornah
Wisseh (Brooklyn, N.Y.) for a breakaway bucket to seal the
victory.
Morkeliunas finished with a game-high 16 rebounds to go along
with 15 points. Wisseh closed with 13 points and five assists
off the bench on 6-of-12 shooting.
Both teams shot poorly in the first half, as Queens College
shot 37 percent from the floor while Long Island made only
31.7 percent of its shots but lead 36-30 at the break. The
Blackbirds came out on fire to begin the second stanza, using
a 20-4 run to give them a 56-34 lead. A three-pointer by senior
Evan Meekins (Providence, R.I.) gave LIU its largest advantage
at 64-40 with 13:10 remaining.
But Queens College would not go down easily and fought back
behind the play of senior guard Brad Wierzbicki. The 6-foot-3
sharpshooter had 23 of his game-high 34 points over the final
13 minutes to lead the Knights back. His trifecta from the
right side gave Queens its first lead since the opening minute
at 78-76. A driving jumper in the lane 30 seconds later by
Wierzbicki gave the Knights their largest advantage before
LIU’s game-winning run.
Wierzbicki finished 12-of-28 from the floor, including 6-for-9
from long range. Khaleef Allicott added 19 points for the Knights.
The Blackbirds open their regular-season slate on Saturday,
Nov. 11 at home against Binghamton at 7:00 p.m.
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