FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Trailing by as many as twenty in the first half, and by 17 with just over 13 and a half minutes remaining, the Sacred Heart men's basketball nearly put off an improbable comeback in the Northeast Conference Quarterfinals against LIU Brooklyn on Thursday night at the William H. Pitt Center.

Sacred Heart got as close as one, 73-72, when Cane Broome hit his second consecutive three-pointer for his 12^th straight Pioneer point, capping a 26-10 run with 3:42 remaining. After Joel Hernandez made a layup on the ensuing trip down the court, SHU had two opportunities to tie, first turning the ball over. Hernandez capitalized, slamming home a dunk near the end of a shot clock to push the lead back to 77-72.

Tevin Falzon made two free throws though, making it a one-possession game, 77-74, once again, and after an LIU miss, Sacred Heart had one final opportunity to even the score for the first time since the midway point of the first half. Falzon got an open look for three with a minute and a half to go that was halfway down, only to rim out. 

LIU Brooklyn (16-14, 9-9 NEC) scored the next seven points to seal the game, all on free throws, going 7-8 in the final 1:12 after making just 4-10 in the first 38 plus minutes.

The loss ends SHU's season at 12-18, including going 11-7 in NEC play to tie for second place, matching its best ever league finish in program history. 

Named Sacred Heart's first ever NEC Player of the Year on Tuesday, Broome scored 25 of his game-high 35 in the second half, four shy of his career-high with his fifth 30 plus point game of the season. Also with a team-high eight rebounds, he was two shy of his third career double double. Quincy McKnight was the team's next leading scorer with 14 points on 7-12 shooting. Falzon was the only other Pioneer in double figures with 13, blocking two shots to end his career as SHU's all-time Division I block leader with 98.

Hernandez was the only Blackbird with more than six points in the second half, pouring in 16 of his 22 after the break and pulling down a team-best seven rebounds. Iverson Felmming helped LIU Brooklyn to the large first half lead, scoring 13 of his season-high 18 before halftime, and finishing 6-7 from the field and 3-3 form beyond the arch. Martin Hermannssonn had 13 points and a game-high six assists, while Glenn Feidanga and Jerome Frink each added ten.

Flemming and Feidanga led the charge off the LIU bench, who outscored the Sacred Heart bench, 30-6. The Blackbirds shot 54.8 percent from the field and limited Sacred Heart to just 44.4 percent, including 37.8 in the first half. 

Noteworthy

• Broome moved into eighth place on SHU's single season scoring list with 694 in 30 games, 11 points shy of Shane Gibson's record from 2011-12, which he accomplished in 32 games. Broome's scoring average of 23.1 points per game is the program's new Division I record
• The loss was Sacred Heart's first when hosting an NEC Quarterfinal game, as the Pioneers were previously a perfect 3-0
  

Inside the Box

• Sacred Heart made 9-9 from the free throw line, the first time it has shot 100 percent since going 15-15 at Notre Dame on December 11, 2011

How it Happened

• First Half
  • Facing a 4-0 deficit early, Sacred Heart scored seven of the next nine to take its first and only lead, 7-6, on Broome's dunk and free throw for a three-point play 3:44 into the game
  • LIU Brooklyn scored on the next trip down the floor and would lead throughout, with SHU only get as close as one point twice, the first time coming on McKnight's jumper with 14:55 remaining
  • A Frink there-pointer ended a 13-2 run for a 26-13 advantage at the 9:21 mark
  • Sacred Heart could not manage to cut the lead back to single digits, only getting as close as ten, 30-20, when Jordan Allen went 2-2 at the line 2:22 later
  • Flemming scored 11 points in a 12-3 stretch from there, hitting a third three-pointer in a span of just 1:36 to push LIU's lead to 42-25
  • A Hermannsson layup 2:38 later then capped a 17-5 run for the largest lead of the game, 47-27, with 2:29 left
  • The Pioneers gained some momentum heading into the break, scoring the final six points, including two steals that led to fast break layups, the second by Allen just five second ahead of the buzzer to make the score 47-33

• Second Half
  • SHU continued the momentum on the other side of the half, extending its unanswered stretch to ten to get as close as ten when McKnight tipped in a miss 1:08 out of the locker room
  • Six straight points by LIU Brooklyn moments later pushed the Blackbird lead back to 17, 59-42, when Trevin Woods made his only basket of the game with 14:56 left
  • A Hernandez layup 1:02 later also gave LIU a 17-point advantage, which marked the beginning of the SHU's 26-10 run
  • The run began with a 12-2 spurt, capped by Broome's layup to make the score 65-58 with 8:39 showing
  • Broome's stretch of 12 straight Pioneer points started with a layup at the 6:48 mark, which made the score 67-62
  • He then pulled Sacred Heart within one possession, 69-66, on a layup with 5:12 to go.
  • With LIU answering each basket from there, he brought the Pioneers within two, 71-69, and then one, 73-72, on the next two trips down the floor