On Saturday, Jan. 17, the LIU Post men’s basketball team defeated Queens College in a close East Coast Conference tilt at the Fitzgerald Gymnasium in Flushing. Down by one with 15 seconds left, senior guard Tyuan Williams nailed the game-winning basket at the buzzer to make it 70-69.
The first half did not flow as evenly as the final score might have suggested. The Knights from Queens defended their ground solidly and went up to a 27-10 lead. Eventually, the LIU Post Pioneers broke through and closed the half with a 23-5 run to make it 33-32 in their favor, before hitting the locker room.
Both Queens and LIU Post then battled for the lead throughout the second half; neither team held more than a six-point lead at any time during the stanza that saw eight lead changes and three tied scores in the period alone.
With only 15 seconds to go, Queens’ Paul Little gave the hosts a 69-68 lead that forced LIU Post to set up their final play over a time out call. The play did go home just as the buzzer sounded, and the Pioneers drove home with the win.
Overall, the Knights beat the Pioneers in field throws, and did not miss a single throw from the foul line, yet LIU Post marked a 46.2 percent shooting from deep while Queens recorded only 38.1 percent. LIU Post’s senior guard P.J. Torres helped better the percentage with his back-to-back threes coming off the bench, and counted for a game-high of 20 points in total.
The Pioneers are now 2-5 in all East Coast Conference tilts and 7-8 overall this season, while Queens is 2-4 in the ECC’s and 2-11 in all fixtures.
This article was originally published in the Pioneer, the award-winning student newspaper of LIU Post, www.liupostpioneer.com, and is republished here by Blank Slate Media with the permission of the Pioneer.
