It’s a situation every player dreams of.
Ball in his hands. One-point deficit. A chance to knock off Indiana, one of America’s most pre-eminent programs in their own building.
Unfortunately for Jason Brickman, his shot — and LIU Brooklyn’s upset bid — came up just short.
The senior point guard could not connect on a 3-pointer as time expired, as the Blackbirds fell to the Hoosiers at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind., 73-72.
“We put ourselves in a great position,” Brickman said by phone after the game. “We had some confidence. Get the ball in my hands, push it up, get a quick shot.”
The Blackbirds, who entered the game as 20 ¹/₂ -point underdogs, gave the Hoosiers a scare, going on a 26-12 run in the first half to take an eight-point lead with less than four minutes left.
But the Hoosiers didn’t panic, whittling the deficit to three at halftime and then taking the lead early in the second half. It was then LIU head coach Jack Perri switched from a man-to-man to a zone, trying to keep the Hoosiers out of the paint.
“They’re a very young team, but so athletic,” Perri said of the Hoosiers. “They can attack the basket. We wanted to crowd the ball, make them kick it out and take jump shots. They really focused on the game plan, and did a great job of doing that. Our guys competed as well as they could.”
Undaunted by the Indiana surge, the Blackbirds hung in, even taking a four-point lead at 50-46 with 13:05 to play in the second half.
There were doubts as to whether LIU could hang with Indiana for 40 minutes, but Perri chose to take a micro approach to answer that question.
“We focus on smaller games throughout the game,” he said. “Every time we looked up, we were winning. With 2¹/₂ minutes to go, we’re like, ‘All right, here we go.’ ”
“We wanted to win every four minutes,” Brickman said. “We started gaining some confidence, having the lead, playing with them. Just keep it close down the stretch.”
At the final media timeout, the score was tied at 70 with 2:20 remaining. Indiana’s Will Sheehey hit a 3-pointer, and Brickman made two free throws at the other end.
The Hoosiers missed their next two shots, but offensive rebounds kept the possession alive. After the Blackbirds were able to secure a defensive rebound, they gave the ball to Brickman.
“I tried to get into the lane and get the shot off,” he said. “The big came over and helped, [I] threw up a shot, came up short at the end.”
His first miss came with five seconds left, but freshman Devin Davis missed the front end of a one-and-one and Brickman came up with the rebound, giving the Blackbirds life. However, Brickman’s heave at the buzzer came up short.
Despite the narrow loss, Perri was able to take some positives out of Tuesday’s game.
“I have a lot of new guys, so we’re trying to figure each other out,” he said. “They’re doing a good job — keep grinding and getting better. We have a much better ceiling. If we can keep competing at a high level, and be consistent, we’re going to give ourselves chances to win every game.”
“As long as we play tough and to our philosophy, we can beat anyone,” Brickman added.