Terriers Top Blackbirds 81-64 To Capture 40th Battle of Brooklyn

Story by Brandon Glogau
On Saturday the 40th annual Battle of Brooklyn Basketball game between arch-rivals LIU Brooklyn and St. Francis Brooklyn men’s basketball teams took place at the Pope Center in Brooklyn Heights with the host Terriers beating the Blackbirds by a final score of 81-64. In an evenly played game, the biggest lead between the teams was 6 points until mid-way through of the second half when St. Francis took a 10 point lead and never looked back.

The story of the game was the dynamic play of Brent Jones, St. Francis senior point guard, named as Battle of Brooklyn MVP. Contributing 15 points and a game-high 8 assists, Jones—the first St. Francis player since Ricky Cadell in 2010 to capture MVP honors—was awarded the Lai-Lynch trophy, named in honor of William “Buck” Lai, LIU‘s legendary athletic directer and his esteemed St. Francis counterpart, Dan Lynch.

With his performance yesterday, Jones is now just 9 points away from scoring 1,000 for his career. The victory snaps a 4 game Battle of Brooklyn losing streak for St. Francis, and is the Terriers‘ second win in a row over LIU.

St. Francis junior forward Amdy Fall finished with 14 points, six rebounds, and four blocks while senior forward Jalen Cannon grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and chipped in 11 points.

LIU‘s senior guard Gerrell Martin delivered a solid performance, leading the Blackbirds with a game-high 18 points, followed by 11 points by Nura Zanna and 12 points for Elvar Fridriksson.

Both teams opened the game on fire, trading baskets left and right. Picking up two quick fouls in the first half, LIU’s Zanna took a seat on to the bench a lot earlier then he or Blackbirds’ head coach Jack Perri expected. With the LIU big man on the bench, St. Francis closed out the first half with an 11-3 run to lead 40-34 at intermission.

A 10-2 run put the Terriers up 62-49 with 10 minutes left in the game. St. Francis’s Fall scored 10 of his 14 points over the final 5:58 and also added four blocked shots on defense to seal the win.

With the regular season starts coming to an end, now is the time teams play close attention to Northeast Conference standings and seeding for the NEC‘s Men‘s Basketball Tournament. With the victory—and Robert Morris’s 71-68 loss yesterday to Bryant—St. Francis (14-9; 8-2 NEC) now sits alone in first place while LIU (8-13; 4-6 NEC) holds the number seven seed. Both Bryant University (10-10; 7-3 NEC), and Robert Morris (10-11; 7-3 NEC) are tied for second while Saint Francis PA (12-9; 6-4 NEC) and Mount St. Mary’s (10-11; 6-4 NEC) are currently tied for fourth. The top eight teams in the 10-team NEC qualify for the conference playoffs.

St. Francis will have time to savor a hard fought victory and prepare for its upcoming match-up at Central Connecticut State next Thursday, when Brent Jones will likely score his 1,000th point, becoming the first player in St. Francis history to record 1,000 points and 500 assists in a career. Jones already holds the Terrier career record for assists with 549 helpers.

LIU will also have an opportunity to recover from a difficult loss. The Blackbirds can watch film and prepare to host Robert Morris Thursday night at the Steinberg Wellness Center. The Blackbirds also have an away date a week later against the Colonials, who over the last five season have a 59-20 record against conference foes. With upcoming games against Robert Morris, Mount St. Mary‘s, St. Francis, PA and Wagner, all ahead of LIU in the NEC standings, the Blackbirds have their work cut out for them to qualify for the playoffs.

PHOTO CAPTION: St. Francis’s Amdy Fall and Brent Jones sandwich LIU’s Iverson Fleming
PHOTO CREDIT: Bob Dea

Brandon Glogau is a sports reporter for The Seawanhaka, LIU Brooklyn’s school newspaper. At East Meadow High School in Long Island, Glogau was the girls/boys varsity basketball announcer as well as a sports reporter for the school newspaper.