St. Francis was in the midst of its best season in years, and had a golden opportunity to finally turn the tables in the Battle of Brooklyn. That was before getting distracted by a recent scandal, and then getting upset by LIU-Brooklyn on Sunday.
After suffering through their first losing campaign in years, and getting hammered in their earlier meeting last month, LIU turned the tables on St. Francis, leaving Barclays Center on Sunday with a 69-68 win, as St. Francis was left hoping the scandal that saw two players arrested and four suspended doesn’t derail a promising season.
Sophomore guard Anthony White was arrested Feb. 4 after cops said he slapped a 20-year-old female, choked her and broke her computer. He was charged with assault with intent to cause physical injury, released and is due back in court March 24.
Freshman forward Wayne Martin was arrested Feb. 11 and charged with forcible touching and sex abuse for reportedly attempting to kiss the same victim without her consent back in December 2012, but those charges were dropped and Martin was on the court Sunday. Brent Jones and P.J. Santavenere also were suspended, although Jones has been reinstated.
“The college is currently conducting an investigation, and in protecting their rights and privacy I don’t believe it’d be fair to comment on those situations,” St. Francis coach Glenn Braica said. “Obviously we had a couple of guys return; you can read into that however you’d like.
“I’ll let you read into that; you can imagine, obviously that. But we don’t make excuses. Whatever they hit you with, you’ve got to deal with. That’s what life is. …And I told our guys, this is nothing. When you get older you could have a sick parent, a sick child, whatever. You’ve got to face up to things, and you’ve got to meet them head on. It’s life lessons. You face things; you don’t make excuses. You move forward and you handle them the best you can.’’
LIU (8-16, 3-8 NEC) has won seven of eight in this rivalry. Point guard Jason Brickman had 14 assists Sunday to move into sixth place on the NCAA’s all-time list, and Landon Attterberry had a game-high 20 points off the bench.
“I felt like since I was placed on the bench I had something to prove … so I just came out with the mind-set to dominate the game,’’ said Atterberry.
LIU jumped ahead 28-19 before St. Francis closed the first half on a 13-5 run for a 34-33 lead at the break. LIU jumped ahead again 53-44, and even after Jones capped a 10-0 run by St. Francis (15-11) with a three-point play with 10:34 left, LIU didn’t fold. The Blackbirds led 67-65, and when Lowell Ulmer forced Martin into a miss inside with :06 left, Troy Joseph sealed it at from the free-throw line.
“We really competed and did a good job,’’ said coach Jack Perri, who scrapped LIU’s zone and went back to man-to-man. “I was just getting frustrated with every team no matter what even if they were non-shooters were hitting 3s against us at a pretty good clip, so we changed that up.’’