Jan. 24, 2008

Final Stats

FAIRFIELD, CT - Junior Ryon Howard (Bronx, NY) grabbed an offensive rebound and knocked it in for a layup with :04 left to give the Sacred Heart University men's a 77-76 win over visiting Long Island University in a Northeast Conference game Thursday night. The win was the fourth straight for the Pioneers and moved them to 10-10 overall and 7-2 in the NEC.

The Pioneers couldn't keep the Blackbirds off the offensive glass in the first half. Despite taking an early 10-2 lead, and then leading 17-7 just over six minutes into the half, LIU used 17 second-chance points to take a 40-35 lead into the intermission. LIU had 20 offensive rebounds in the period and led the board battle 32-19 overall.

"We're lucky we didn't fall flat on our faces," said head coach Dave Bike, speaking about the 20 offensive boards in the half. "It could've been a real long night."

Whatever Bike said in the locker room at the half had an effect. SHU started the period with a 10-0 spurt and took a 45-40 lead just three minutes in. Seniors Luke Granato and Drew Shubik each had treys in the run. Shubik played just 17 minutes because of foul trouble and fouled out with 1:25 left in the game.

LIU, 10-8 and 2-5, responded to the SHU start with an 8-0 run of its own to retake a 48-45 lead. Six of the eight were scored by Kellen Allen, who finished with 19 points. The Blackbirds held the advantage until Howard tied it with a jumper at 54-54 with 10:40 remaining.

Senior Brice Brooks, who led all scorers with a career-high 24 points, tied the game again at 57-57 with 9:15 left and then the Pioneers took a lead on a Chauncey Hardy jumper with 8:48 to go.

The two teams continued to seesaw back and forth and Jaytornah Wisseh, who led LIU with 21, tied the game at 68-68 with 3:32 left. Shubik put the Pioneers up three with a three-point play with 2:01 left, but Eugene Katorobai picked a big spot to score his first points of the game when he drained a three with 1:46 to go to tie it at 71-71.

After a SHU miss by Ryan Litke on the next trip, Wisseh went to the basket and converted a layup while Shubik committed his fifth foul. He drained the free throw to give the Blackbirds a 74-71 lead with 1:25 to go. Hardy answered with a layup for the Pioneers, then stole the ball from Wisseh at midcourt. Wisseh fouled him and Hardy converted both free throws to put the Pioneers back on top, 75-74 with just :43 left.

The LIU offensive rebounding bit the Pioneers again when the Blackbirds grabbed two offensive rebounds before Katorobai was fouled going up with :19 left. He made both and LIU had a 76-75.

The Pioneers raced to midcourt and Bike called a timeout to set up a play with :13 left. Out of the timeout, Hardy found Granato for a three-point attempt on the left wing, but it rimmed out. Howard was in perfect position alone under the hoop and put back the miss for the lead.

"In the timeout, coach said to send five guys to the glass. We did that, and the ball came my way and I just put it in," said the jubilant Howard.

Wisseh got the ball out of bounds but was cut off by Gene Pettway. He changed direction and launched a desperation shot from halfcourt as the buzzer sounded but it only hit backboard as the Pioneers escaped.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't feel too good watching that," said Bike. "Four seconds was like an eternity because that kid [Wisseh] can fly."

Sacred Heart actually out-rebounded LIU 19-13 in the second half, allowing just five offensive rebounds.

"We tried to contain the penetration and I think the guys focused more on boxing out," said Brooks." At halftime, coach said some things I can't repeat now."

The other key factor in the game was the Pioneer free throw shooting. SHU nailed 21 of 25 attempts - a cool 84 percent for the team leading the NEC in that category.