The Long Island University men’s basketball team bent, but it never broke.
The Blackbirds held on for a dramatic, final-second victory, taking down Sacred Heart 83–82 at the Steinberg Wellness Center on Feb. 18.
Iverson Fleming did a bit of everything in the win, pacing the squad offensively, but it was his defense on the final possession that made all the difference for his squad.
Trailing by two with 4.5 seconds left to play, Sacred Heart’s Quincy McKnight drove to the basket and drew a foul on Blackbirds standout Jerome Frink. McKnight connected on his first free throw, but failed to drain the second, and the rebound pin-balled between players before landing in the hands of Charles Tucker Jr. behind the arc. Fleming swatted at Tucker’s three-point attempt, doing just enough to keep the ball out of the hoop and lift the Blackbirds (18–11, 11–5) to a big-time conference win.
“It feels great whenever you can grind out a win like that,” Fleming said. “It was just the will to win. They get the offensive rebound. You just have to be aware, react and do whatever it takes to get a stop. Unfortunately we didn’t get that rebound, but we didn’t give up.”
Long Island University sophomore Raiquan Clark did the dirty work and made big plays down the stretch in the second half. He drew a charge with 3:18 left, preserving a one-point lead for the Blackbirds.
Just a few moments later Clark hauled in a loose ball bouncing out of bounds, and shoveled the ball to Nurra Zanna in one fell swoop. Zanna hit the bucket and was fouled, draining the and-one, to give the Blackbirds an 80–75 lead.
“He’s such a unique player that way,” Blackbirds coach Jack Perri said of Clark. “That’s what he brings, and he plays with that energy — not only the offensive rebounding. He’s got such a knack for that. We see that every day in practice and just has a knack to get offensive rebounds. That’s what he is, he has the ability to defend different positions.”
Sacred Heart’s (13–16, 8–8) defense didn’t make it easy for Long Island University or Blackbirds offensive leader Frink in the first half. The red-shirt senior finished with just nine points and missed 13 of his 15 shot attempts.
But Fleming picked up the scoring slack. He said he took notice of Frink’s frustration and wanted to do whatever it took to get the victory.
“What helped me was just having the mindset to be aggressive,” said Fleming, who finished with a game-high 24 points. “I saw Jerome was having a tough first half and my team needed something to lift us up. We played defense and that got us going. I took a lot of shots, I made some, and it helped us.”
Four Blackbirds hit offensive double figures — Clark finished with 17 points, Jashaun Agosto chipped in 14, and Zanna added 12 of his own. De’Von Barnett and Joseph Lopez led the Pioneers with 18 points each, while Chris Robinson scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half for Sacred Heart.
The win gives Long Island University some breathing room for second place in the Northeast Conference, wrapping up the regular season at Wagner on Feb. 25.
