LIU Blackbirds: Defending NEC Champs Open Season With Victory

From the desk of:  THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

OPENING NIGHT

FINAL

New Rochelle    76

LIU Brooklyn  109

LIU/Brooklyn Blackbirds: Defending NEC Champs Cruise to Season Opening Victory Over College of New Rochelle.

Behind Raiquan Clark's game-high 22-points, the defending NEC champion Blackbirds open the 2018-2019 regular season with a resounding 109-76 victory over the CNR Blue Angels Tuesday evening at the Steinberg Wellness Center.

LIU senior Raiquan Clark finishes with nine boards and five assists while clocking a team high 31-minutes.  However, big man in Flatbush winds up being forward Ty Flowers (a redshirt sophomore coming to LIU from UMass) who leads the floor with six assists, and posts a double-double with ten boards and 21-points.  Raul Frias adds nine boards and 19-points off the bench, as the Blackbirds feature five players in double-digit scoring.

The Blackbirds take a 59-40 lead into halftime en route to a 33-point margin of victory.  They shoot 51.9% from the field, and 32.4% from three-point range.  New Rochelle struggles shooting 31% from the field.  LIU also outscores CNR 48-26 in the battle of the benches, and outworks them 58-45 on the boards.

Derek Kellogg enters his second season as head coach at LIU.  His first season went very well, leading the Blackbirds to an 18-17 overall record, and a 10-8 conference finish.  In the conference tourney, they dispatch St. Francis College of Brooklyn and Fairleigh Dickinson University, then overcome favored Wagner to capture last season's NEC title.

The Blackbirds pick up where they left off last season.  Tuesday night's victory is their fourth straight at the Wellness Center.  LIU posted a 12-4 home record last season, winning their final two regular season home games, then their first round conference match-up against FDU at Brooklyn. 

LIU/Brooklyn was just 5-11 last season playing away from home, and 8-9 in non-conference games.

Next on the docket, the Blackbirds host Brown University on Friday.  These teams last met last year on Nov. 25, at Providence, where Brown prevails by a 94-86 margin of victory over LIU.