Liu Brooklyn hasn’t lost a game in the Northeast Conference Tournament in more than two years. It also hasn’t played one away from home.
The third-seeded Blackbirds will leave their borough to continue their quest for the NEC’s first-ever three-peat, but they won’t have to leave New York City, facing second-seeded Wagner today at the Spiro Sports Center in Staten Island in the first NEC semifinal, with the winner playing top-seeded Robert Morris or fifth-seeded Mount St. Mary’s
In the first postseason meeting since 2008, Blackbirds senior forward Jamal Olasewere, the NEC Player of the Year, said the high stakes feel even bigger going up against a familiar foe.
“It’s a big rivalry and we know it’s going to mean that much more for whoever wins,” said Olasewere. “It has been the same players for the last couple of years, so we know them and they know usIt’s going to make the game that much better.”
It’d be hard to top the last meeting, when Wagner swept the season-series with a 94-92 home-win on Feb. 24, on Kenneth Ortiz’s putback with less than one second left.
The defensive-minded Seahawks (19-11), who average 68.5 points, did what few teams can do — run with the Blackbirds and live to tell about it. Wagner averaged 90 points in the two wins, breaking a five-game losing streak against LIU (18-13), but coach Bashir Mason isn’t banking on the team replicating its 17-of-26 3-point shooting, having hit 32.6 percent beyond the arc this season.
“I want to hang my hat on being a defensive team and not try and outscore them,” Mason said. “I think the monkey’s sort of off our backs, but beating them twice means nothing. That was the regular season. This is what counts.”
LIU finds its strength in Olasewere, Jason Brickman (the nation’s leader in assists) and senior C.J. Garner(two straight 30-point games), while Wagner finds strength in numbers. The Blackbirds have only five players averaging at least 14 minutes, while the Seahawks have 10, leading Ortiz to believe the team’s depth may be the difference.
“We can leave it all out there and then have someone that can pick us up,” said Ortiz, the two-time NEC Defensive Player of the Year. “With them it’s different. They back down sometimes on defense, they probably take a play off because they need to score and that’s more of an advantage for usWith us, there’s no letting up.”
Olasewere feels either team can win this game, but he expects the champs to show why they wear the crown.
“Confidence is high, but I don’t think we’ve been playing our best,” said Olasewere. “I think our best will be on Saturday.”