Jan. 26, 2006

Box Score

BROOKLYN, NY - Junior guard James Williams threw in all of his team-high 14 points in the second half to help the Long Island University Blackbirds christen their new Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center with a 63-60 victory over visiting Sacred Heart University in a Northeast Conference men's basketball game Thursday night.

Sacred Heart, 9-10 overall and 6-4 in the NEC, scored the first seven points before junior Esa Maki-Tulokas got the Blackbirds on the board with a dunk almost four minutes into the game. A Jarrid Frye three with 13:45 left in the half had the Pioneers on top 12-7, but LIU used a 10-4 run to take a 17-16 lead with 7:25 to play. Sophomore guard Evan Meekins knocked home a three to give the Blackbirds the lead.

The Pioneers regained the lead at 20-18 with a Brice Brooks layup with 3:49, but Randy Jones gave LIU the lead again with a jumper at 2:42. He hit another with 1:07 left and the Blackbirds went to the locker room at the intermission with a 26-25 advantage.

Williams, who sat half of the first period in foul trouble, banged home a three to start the second half and extend the LIU lead. He hit another jumper with 18:59 to play and the Blackbirds led 31-25. The Pioneers scored the next eight points, capped by a layup by sophomore Ryon Howard with 15:59 left to give SHU a 33-31 lead.

A pair of threes by Eugene Kotorobai helped LIU regain the lead at 39-37 with 13:40 to go. LIU scored 17 of the next 25 points to open up its biggest lead of the game, 56-45, with 6:12 left in the game.

Again the Pioneers refused to go away and a 7-0 run, five of those from the hand of Drew Shubik, had SHU within 56-52 with 4:04 left. A Tavio Hobson three with 2:26 left cut the LIU to 57-55 with 2:26 to go, but Williams answered at the other end for the Blackbirds with 1:14 on the clock.

Frye made one of two free throws with :36 left to cut the LIU lead to 59-56 and Scott Aubin did the same for the Blackbirds to push the lead back to four with :31 remaining. Frye was fouled again for the Pioneers, and again made just one of two with :27 to go. When Jones hit a pair for LIU with :21 left it looked like the game was over for Sacred Heart.

Sophomore Luke Granato had other ideas and banged home a trey with :09 on the clock to cut the lead to two at 62-60. Paska Morkeliunas was fouled by Frye with :07 left and made just one of his two tries. The Pioneers pushed the ball up the floor and Granato managed to squeeze off an off-balance three-pointer while double-covered at the buzzer but it banged off the back of the rim to preserve the LIU win.

Frye led the Pioneers with 16 points. Trim finished with his tenth double-double of the season with 14 points and ten rebounds. Sacred Heart, who came into the game shooting 73 percent from the free throw line, was just 8-18 on Thursday.