6:59 p.m.
FDU defeats LIU 77-62 to extend their winning streak to 4. The Knights sweep the Sharks and improve to 7-9, 6-4 NEC after winning both games of this two game series.
Williams led the Knights with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks. Jenkins added 13 points and 7 assists while Powell had 11 points.
Flowers led the Sharks with 18 points and 11 rebounds as Cotton added 17 points and Penn had 13 points.
FDU shot 16-30 (53.3%) from the field, 3-10 (30%) from three, and 5-7 (71.4%) from the free-throw line in the second half and LIU shot 12-34 (35.3%) from the field, 5-19 (26.3%) from three, and 4-10 (40%) from the free-throw line in the second half.
Overall FDU shot 30-59 (50.8%) from the field, 7-18 (38.9%) from three, and 10-16 (62.5%) from the free-throw line, while LIU shot 22-67 (32.8%) from the field, 8-35 (22.9%) from three, and 10-19 (52.6%) from the free-throw line.
Thank you for following tonight’s game. We would like to thank our sports writer Charles Elmo for helping out with updates during the game. Another thank you to our Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Scalzo for producing the live blog and student lifestyle Naniyah McClain for updating Twitter throughout the game.
6:50 p.m.
FDU defeats LIU 77-62 to extend their winning streak to 4.
6:46 p.m.
Flowers knocks down a three, but it is too little too late for the Sharks. They trail the Knights 77-58 with under a minute to play.
6:45 p.m.
Dadika checks in and gets the turnaround to go. FDU leads 75-55 with a 1:38 left.
6:40 p.m.
It is Rush again. This time, it’s a three. He has 9 points and the Knights’ lead has grown to 20 with 3 minutes remaining.
6:38 p.m.
Penn misses both from the line. At the other end, Rush takes it strong to the basket and banks it in. FDU has a commanding 69-53 lead with 3:40 left in the game.
6:37 p.m.
Daniel Rodriguez gets in the scoring column late off the find by Williams. That basket pushes the Knights’ lead up to 15 with 4:30 to go.
6:35 p.m.
The Sharks have gone cold, missing 9 of their last 10 shots as the Knights continue to make them pay. Munden Jr. banks in the three as FDU leads 66-50 with 5 minutes remaining.
6:33 p.m.
Back-to-back buckets by Powell. He’s got 11 points and extends the FDU lead to 63-50 with just over 5 minutes left in the game.
6:31 p.m.
Powell is called for the foul. That is his third of the game, which sends Jack Ballantyne to the free-throw line. He hits both to cut the Knights’ lead back to single digits. It is 59-50 with 7:38 to go in the game.
6:29 p.m.
Out of the timeout, Cotton gets the three to fall. Square responds with a layup, set up by Williams. Square has 10 points off the bench for the Knights. FDU leads 59-48 with 8 minutes left.
6:27 p.m.
Square gets the layup to go. He has 8 points for the Knights as they continue to pour it on. The FDU lead is now up to 12 with 8:49 remaining in the game. The Knights are in control and on a 12-0 run.
6:25 p.m.
A Jenkins offensive rebound leads to a basket by who else? It is Elyjah Williams again, who takes the contact but gets the layup to fall. He completes the three-point play and has 17 points as the Knights extend their lead to 55-45 at the halfway point of the second half.
6:24 p.m.
Munden Jr. draws the foul and knocks down one of two from the stripe. 7-0 run for the Knights.
6:21 p.m.
Powell dumps it to Square and he lays it in. Technical foul on the floor. It is on LIU, which sends Jenkins to the line where he splits a pair. The Knights lead the Sharks 51-45.
6:18 p.m.
Williams spins and gets the fadeaway jumper to fall. Cotton answers with a three-pointer, but Williams comes back down and nails a three. He now has 14 points for the Knights as FDU holds on to a 48-45 lead with 11:59 to go.
6:15 p.m.
Penn gets hit, but gets it to fall through the contact. He completes the three-point play and is up to 11 points for the game after cutting the FDU lead to 43-42 with 14:11 left.
6:14 p.m.
Rush cuts to the basket and dunks it home off the pass by Munden Jr. He has had a quiet night, but that basket extends the Knights’ lead to 43-39.
6:11 p.m.
Racine gets the shot to fall, but Penn responds by getting to the basket and laying it in. Back and forth we go early on in the second half. FDU leads 41-39 with 16:38 remaining.
6:09 p.m.
Jenkins answers at the other end, hitting a jumper off the assist from Powell. The Knights regain the lead, 39-37 with 16:58 to go in the second half.
6:08 p.m.
Flowers finds space and hits the jumper. The game is now tied at 37-37 with 17 minutes left in the game.
6:07 p.m.
This time it’s Flowers knocking down a three-pointer. He joins Cotton with 11 points of his own. The Sharks are within 2 with 18:31 remaining.
6:06 p.m.
Cotton kicks off the scoring for the second half by nailing a three. He is up to 11 points for the game, leading all scorers. FDU still leads LIU 37-32 with 19:15 left.
5:58 p.m.
FDU leads LIU 37-29 at the half. The Knights trailed 17-7 early on, but fought their way back and controlled much of the rest of the first half. They head into the locker room with an 8-point lead over the Sharks.
Jenkins led the way for FDU with 10 points, Williams had 9, and Powell added 7.
For LIU, Cotton and Flowers each had 8 points while Penn added 6.
FDU shot 14-29 (48.3%) from the field, 4-8 (50%) from three and 5-9 (55.6%) from the free-throw line.
LIU shot 10-33 (30.3%) from the field, 3-16 (18.8%) from three and 6-9 (66.7%) from the free-throw line.
5:49 p.m.
Williams pulls down the offensive rebound and puts it back up and in. He is up to 9 points as the Knights extend their lead to 37-29 to end the first half of play.
5:47 p.m.
Penn gets the layup to fall, plus the foul off the assist by Wood. Penn completes the three-point play. He has 6 points for the Sharks, but they still trail FDU 35-29.
5:46 p.m.
Williams finds Racine who knocks down the mid-range jumper. The Knights’ lead is up to 9 with 1:22 remaining.
5:46 p.m.
Penn slams it home to cut the FDU lead to 33-26 with 2:45 left in the first half.
5:45 p.m.
Jenkins hits the three to extend the FDU lead to 33-24 with 3:03 to go in the half. He cracks double digits with 10 points for the game.
5:45 p.m.
Flowers ends the scoring drought for LIU, sinking both free throws from the stripe. The Sharks still trail the Knights 30-24 after a Williams three. Williams now has 7 points for FDU.
5:39 p.m.
The Sharks haven’t scored in just over 4 minutes of play as Williams picks up the loose ball and banks in the layup. The Knights have scored 8 straight points and are on a 12-2 run. They lead LIU 27-22 with 4:17 remaining in the half.
5:36 p.m.
Powell draws the block on Wood. He goes to the line and hits a pair. That extends the Knights’ lead to 25-22 with under 5 minutes left. FDU is on a 10-2 scoring run.
5:34 p.m.
Racine gets on the board for the Knights with a soft touch on the post hook. That gives FDU the lead with 5 minutes remaining in the first half.
5:33 p.m.
Three offensive rebounds don’t lead to points for the Sharks as Powell banks in the floater off the assist from Jenkins. FDU trails 22-21 with just under 7 minutes to play in the half.
5:29 p.m.
Flowers slams it home off the offensive rebound to extend the LIU lead to 22-19 with 8:21 to go in the first half.
5:28 p.m.
Munden Jr. misses the layup, but Square grabs the offensive rebound and puts it back up and in, plus the foul. He completes the three-point play from the line. FDU is within 1 with 8:40 left in the first half of play.
5:26 p.m.
Munden Jr. heads to the free-throw line and makes one free throw to cut the LIU lead to 20-16 with 10 minutes to go in the half.
5:25 p.m.
Flowers makes both free throws to extend the LIU lead to 20-15 with 10:28 to go in the half.
5:23 p.m.
Penn makes one free throw as Jenkins makes the jumper to cut the LIU lead to 18-15 with 11:12 to go in the half. Jenkins has 7 points for the Knights.
5:22 p.m.
Rush is called for the foul. That is already his second personal foul with 11:37 remaining in the first half. Callum Baker checks in for Rush.
5:21 p.m.
Jenkins makes the three to cut the LIU lead to 17-13 with 12:03 to go in the half. He has scored 5 straight points for the Knights to halt the Sharks’ scoring run and cut the deficit in half.
5:19 p.m.
Square makes one free throw as Jenkins makes the layup to cut the LIU lead to 17-10 with 12:29 to go in the half.
5:15 p.m.
Rivera hits the three and the layup on the following possession to extend the LIU lead to 17-7 with 14:05 to go in the half. The Sharks are on a 15-2 run.
5:12 p.m.
Flowers hits the jumper and Cotton nails a three to extend the LIU lead to 12-7 with 16:29 to go in the half. Cotton has got it going early with 8 points.
5:11 p.m.
Wood and Rush exchange baskets to tie the game up at 7 with 16:40 to go in the half.
5:11 p.m.
Powell knocks down a three as Cotton comes down the other end and hits one of his own. Cotton has all 5 points for LIU thus far as the game remains tied with 18:15 remaining in the first half.
5:10 p.m.
FDU gets on the board first. Williams banks in the jumper, but Cotton gets to the basket and lays it in for the Sharks. Each team trade baskets to start the game.
5:10 p.m.
The Knights’ starting lineup for tonight is Jahlil Jenkins, Brandon Powell, Brandon Rush, Elyjah Williams, and Pier-Olivier Racine.
Starting lineup for LIU is Tre Wood, Alex Rivera, Virshon Cotton, Ty Flowers and Eral Penn.
4:45 p.m.
Good afternoon and welcome to another men’s basketball live blog. I am Anthony Covino, the sports editor for the Equinox joined by our fellow sports writer Charles Elmo. Our Editor-In-Chief Elizabeth Scalzo will be producing the live blog for tonight’s game with our student lifestyle editor Naniyah McClain updating Twitter throughout the game.
FDU is coming off a 78-70 win over first-place LIU as Preseason All-NEC senior guard Jahlil Jenkins had another high-scoring performance with 27 points in yesterday’s win. LIU’s Junior forward Eral Penn had one of his best performances in his LIU career as he posted 33 points and 20 rebounds in yesterday’s loss.
FDU is on a three game winning streak which is the longest of the season and will look to extend it to four games if they win tonight and sweep LIU and Bryant in consecutive NEC round-robins. Sophomore guard Brandon Powell added 10 points and 10 rebounds as Preseason-All NEC forward Elyjah Williams looks to bounce back after only having five points in last night’s win.
Jenkins leads the Knights with 17.3 PPG with Williams adding 14.7 PPG and sophomore guard Brandon Rush averaging 13.6 PPG as well.
