Wisseh's Career-High 29 Points Not Enough as Blackbirds Fall to Sacred Heart, 80-72

(boxscore)

2/2/07 --The Long Island University men’s basketball team could not overcome a slow start and fell at Sacred Heart, 80-72, on Friday night at the Pitt Center. Despite a career-high 29 points from freshman Jaytornah Wisseh (Brooklyn, N.Y.), the Blackbirds were unable to overcome an early 16-2 deficit en route to dropping their sixth-straight game.

Sacred Heart opened the game scoring the first 12 points, including seven from Drew Shubik, before Long Island got on the board at the 14:32 mark with a layup from Wisseh. The lead grew to as much as 25-10 for SHU on a three from Ryan Litke, before the Blackbirds started to claw back.

Wisseh scored five straight points for LIU (7-15, 3-8 NEC) to make it 28-19, the closest margin since the opening minutes of the game. A pair of foul shots from Wisseh with three seconds left in the half sent Long Island into the break down, 39-30.

Sacred Heart (11-10, 7-3 NEC) opened the second half with six straight points and took control of the game from there with a 45-30 lead. A trifecta from senior James Williams (DeSoto, Texas) at the 13:01 mark was his first bucket of the game and ignited six straight points from LIU to bring the score back to 51-42, but SHU quickly went back ahead by double-digits.

A jumper from Chauncey Hardy at the 2:41 mark was SHU’s last field goal of the game and made it 66-54. A three-pointer from junior Eugene Kotorobai (Richmond Hill, Ontario) got LIU within 71-65 with 1:13 to go, but the Pioneers held off the rally by going 9-of-10 from the foul line down the stretch.

Wisseh played 38 minutes off the bench, finishing with 29 points and six rebounds, but committed seven of LIU’s 23 turnovers. Kotorobai chipped in with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Senior Aubin Scott (Hempstead, N.Y.) added 10 points, while sophomore Donovin McLendon (Miami, Fla.) made his first start of the year and finished with 10 points as well. LIU shot 44.9 percent from the floor and held a 38-27 advantage on the glass.

Shubik led Sacred Heart with 19 points, to help SHU snap a two-game skid. Luke Granato and Jarrid Frye added 14 and 13 points, respectively. The Pioneers shot 49.1 percent for the game and were aided by an 8-for-13 (61.5 percent) effort from the arc in the first half.

The Blackbirds return to action on Monday, February 5, when they host Central Connecticut State at the Wellness, Recreation and Athletics Center at 7:00 p.m.