LIU Blackbirds ~ Battle of Brooklyn Comes to Flatbush

From the desk of:   THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

The Real Battle of Brooklyn ~ 1776

Third Avenue at Ninth Street

NORTHEAST CONFERENCE ~ RIVALRY WEEKEND

THE BATTLE OF BROOKLYN

St. Francis Terriers (NY)

vs.

LIU-BROOKLYN BLACKBIRDS

From,

THE WELLNESS CENTER

Ashland Place, Downtown Brooklyn

Lace em up Boys.  The Battle of Brooklyn hits home Sunday afternoon.  After suffering defeat last year on their home court, and then again this past Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, The Remsen Street Terriers are making final preparations to make a daring daytime Flatbush Avenue crossing where they plan to engage the other Downtown NEC encampment located along Ashland Place and exact some revenge.  Their objective; Invade the Wellness Center and defeat the Blackbirds.


This will be the 96th time Brooklyn's Downtown institutions will face-off.  They've been going at it since 1928 and here we go again.  In last Wednesday's game, the Terriers hung tough trailing LIU by just a point at halftime.  But the Blackbirds pounded St. Francis at the free-throw line in the second half to closed out the game with a nine point margin of victory in an 86-77 final.  The Terriers' Akeem Johnson was high scorer of the game with twenty-four points.  But LIU rode a big second half by Jamal Olasewere to victory.


For the moment, Wagner has joined LIU with twelve Conference wins but remain in second place with a 12-2 record.  Heading into Sunday's game, the Blackbirds still lead the NEC at 12-1 and will  have their undefeated 9-0 home record on the line when St. Francis enters the building.  The Terriers are in third place with a 10-3 record and are 6-7 away from home.  In order to keep their first place standing and home streak in tact, the Blackbirds will need to win this very important Kings County confrontation as winning the Conference and playing through the Northeast tourney is the most likely path to another NCAA Tournament berth.


LIU-Brooklyn; Wagner; the St. Francis Terriers; and Robert Morris have all clinched post-season spots so far.  The top eight teams advance to the Northeast Conference Tournament.






Mike.BTB