LIU Blackbirds Routed By Temple Owls At Barclays Center

From the desk of:  THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

 

Saturday Final:

Temple Owls     101

LIU Blackbirds  65

LIU/BROOKLYN BLACKBIRDS: The Numbers Are Sickly.

Saturday, Barclays Center hosted a battle of the birds.  The LIU Blackbirds made the short trek south along Flatbush Avenue to host the Temple Owls.

Apparently, old habits are hard to break.  Despite last meeting over 40 years ago, Temple nonetheless picked up where they left off, securing their fourth victory in four attempts over the Blackbirds.  Here for the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational, The Owls were not kind about it either.  Patrons of the Kings County arena were witness to a rout.  Temple dismantled host LIU/Brooklyn by a 101-65 margin.

Little went right for the Blackbirds.  In fact, the numbers are sickly.  LIU was outscored 38-22 in the first half, and 63-43 in the second half.  At one point, Temple led by as many as 45 points, and collectively outscored LIU 38-20 in the paint.

In the first half, LIU shot just 23.8%, and for the game, shot a miserable 28.8% from the floor on just 17/59 shooting.  Ditto from beyond the arch, managing just 5/26, for 19.2% shooting.

The Owls dissected LIU with 22 assists, versus just 9 for LIU.  Jason Brickman, who tied for game high, had 6 of them.  Gerrell Martin was the only other LIU starter to record an assist.  Off the bench, Glenn Feidanga and D.J. Griggs recorded one each.

Gerrell Martin and E.J. Reed both tied for the team lead with 13 points.  With ten points, Troy Joseph was the only other Blackbird to score in double-digits.  Jason Brickman finished with nine.  E.J. Reed also pulled down a game high 12 rebounds.

LIU played most of the second half without starter Landon Atterberry, who fouled out after totaling just 7 minutes of play, and Glenn Feidanga, who fouled out as well.

All five Temple starters scored in double digits, led by Dalton Pepper's game high 26 points, who shot 10/12 from the field, and 6/8 from beyond the three.  Pepper also pulled down 10 rebounds, all on the defensive glass.

The LIU Blackbirds record now stands at a 4-7, with two more out of conference games left to play in December, both in the Lone Star State, versus South Houston State, and Texas State.  While the situation is far from dire, there is hope for the Blackbirds season yet.  The team expects sixth year senior forward Julian Boyd to make his return from injury in January, hopefully in time to begin their conference schedule.



Mike.BTB

LIU Blackbirds: Gerrell Martin Nails Buzzer Beater, Gives Flatbush Victory

From the desk of:  THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

Brooklyn Buzzer Beater!

WEDNESDAY FINAL:

LAMAR      79

Blackbirds   82

LIU/BROOKLYN BLACKBIRDS: Gerrell Martin Buries Three-Pointer With 0:01, To Raise The Roof On The Ashland Place Gymnasium.

The Blackbirds trailed by eight points at the half versus the Cardinals of Lamar, but turned the tables with a 48-37 second half, to gain victory in their return to the Ashland Place Gym.

LIU led for the first ten minutes, until Lamar tied the game 14-14.  The Blackbirds were up again 25-23 with 6:30 to go, then Lamar buried a pair of three-pointers to pull ahead by a 29-25 score.  They outscored LIU 13-9 to close out the half, earning a 42-34 advantage.

The Blackbirds opened the second half on a 12-4 run, to tie the game at 46-46, with 16:02 to go.  When LIU fell behind again, Jason Brickman's free throws tied the game at 57-57, with 10:13 to play.  After a three-pointer at the other end, E.J. Reed buried a three of his own for LIU, knotting the score again at 60-60.  Things remained close down the stretch, but Brooklyn maintained a 22-19 lead over the final stretch of the game.

Four of five LIU starters scored in double-digits, led by E.J. Reed's 19 points.  Jason Brickman went double-double, with 12 assists, and 17 points.  Landon Atterberry matched Jason with 17 points, and tied with Troy Joseph with a team high 6 rebounds.  In the waning minutes, Gerrell Martin became the deciding factor.  He scored 12 points on the night, but 8 of those came in a flurry with under four minutes to go.

A brutal LIU turnover led to Lamar's Nimrod Hilliard's layup, which tied the game 79-79, with just 0:05 left on the clock.  Then with time expiring, Jason Brickman promptly fed Gerrell Martin at the other end, who nailed a jumper from beyond the arch, to give LIU a last second, 82-79 victory.

LIU improved to 4-6 on the season, while the Lamar Cardinals dropped to a 1-9 record.

LIU Blackbirds: Eaten Up By UC Irvine Anteaters; Face Eastern Washington Tonight

From the desk of:  THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

FRIDAY FINAL

LIU Blackbirds   64

UC Irvine            84

LIU/BROOKLYN BLACKBIRDS: Anteaters Feast On The Boards, Shoot 55% from Floor, As LIU Falls By Twenty.

The following goes for the pro team that plays further down Flatbush Avenue as well.  When you only shoot 34% from the field, odds are you're going to loose, unless, you compensate on defense, dominate the boards, and/or get to the line and bury free throws.

Playing their first game since facing the Indiana Hoosiers ten days ago, perhaps rust played a major roll in LIU's defeat.  Gerrell Martin led the team with 27 minutes, and led the Blackbirds with 12 shots, but only two found net.  E.J. Reed, who led LIU in points over the first two games, was only 2/9 from the field.  Jason Brickman endured a relatively silent night, scoring just two points in 26 minutes, but issued a game high 6 assists.  All together, the Blackbirds were an ice cold 21/61 from the field.

Landon Atterberry led the Blackbirds with 14 points.  Gilbert Parga was the only other Blackbird in double-digit scoring, with 10 points. 

The Anteaters had four players score in double-digits, led by Chris McNealy's 15 points, while UC Irvine shot 55% from the field, converting on 33/60 shot attempts.

The Blackbirds additionally got crushed on the boards by a 44-29 margin.  UC Irvine's Will Davis II pulled down a game high 8 rebounds, while Glenn Feidanga pulled down 7 for LIU.  Effective ball distribution also foiled LIU.  UC Irvine shared and passed the ball to the tune of 25 assists, while LIU only had 11 team assists.

Next up, the Blackbirds will remain in Irvine, California, to face the Eastern Washington Eagles this evening.  They will then wrap up the 2K Sports Classic on Sunday versus Boston University.

TONIGHT

 

Eastern Washington Eagles

vs.

LIU Blackbirds

FROM

The Left Coast

Mike.BTB

LIU Blackbirds: Kids From Flatbush Gave Indiana Hoosiers All They Could Handle

From the desk of:  THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

 

Game One: LIU Gains First Victory Over St. Peter's

LIU/BROOKLYN BLACKBIRDS: Hoosiers Sweat Out Close Victory Over LIU.  Despite Last Second Misses, Senior Jason Brickman Leads Team In Very Spirited Effort.

The Hoops of Flatbush visited iconic Assembly Hall Tuesday evening to challenge the #23 ranked Indiana Hoosiers for the first time in their history.  The Blackbirds were otherwise 2-16 versus Big Ten opponents entering last night's action.  By game's end however, they dropped to 2-17 against the Big Ten.

A home crowd of 17, 472 watched the Hoosiers almost go down in defeat with the ball in LIU's hands.  LIU was seconds away from victory, but in the end, things just didn't work out.  The Flatbush Hoops put in a stellar effort, and can nonetheless leave Assembly Hall with their heads held quite high.

The Hoosiers opened up with Kevin Ferrell launching up an immediate three.  At 19:06, Gerrell Martin put Brooklyn on the board with a pair.

The Blackbirds then went down 2-8 and again by 4-10, before E.J. Reed hit a jumper at 12:46 to give LIU their first lead by an 11-10 margin.  A few minutes later, Jason Brickman's lay-up put Brooklyn ahead by an 18-10 score.

The Blackbirds twice led by as many as nine points times during the first half.

However, with 0:18 left, they only held a 34-33 lead, but a layup by Chris Carter closed out the half with LIU ahead by a 36-33 score over the Hoosiers.

Indiana opened the second half with a lay-up to get within one, and by 17:31, LIU/Brooklyn found themselves down by a point.  But they stayed composed, and at 14:02, D.J. Griggs nailed a pair of free throws to open up another five point lead for the Blackbirds.

Indiana went up again 73-72 with 1:27 left on the clock.  In the last seconds, Jason Brickman unfortunately missed a lay-up with 0:05 left.  He then rebounded a missed free throw at the other end, and heaved up a three point attempt with one second left on the clock, that didn't find net.  Indiana recovered the defensive rebound and the buzzer sounded.

Jason Brickman otherwise played brilliantly in leading his young squad against the famed Indiana Hoosiers.  He tied for game high with 37 minutes, scored 11 points, but shot poorly overall - 3/11 from the floor.  He did however issue a game high 11 assists.

The Blackbirds had four players in double-digit scoring, while the Hoosiers had three.  Troy Joseph led LIU with 16 points.  Gilbert Parga and E.J. Reed both contributed 15 each.  Indiana's Will Sheehey led all scorers with 19 points, while the Hoosiers cleaned up on the boards by a 48-35 margin.  Indiana held the Blackbirds to just 9 offensive rebounds.




Mike.BTB