Men’s Basketball Splits the Week

Photo by CHRISTINA MORGERA

Christian Arnold
Assistant Sports Editor

On Saturday, February 2 the LIU Post Pioneers lost a heartbreaker in overtime to the Molloy College Lions by a final score of 75-73.

It was the second time in less than a week that the Pio­neers took the game to the wire. On Wednesday, January 30, they came back and defeated the Dowling College Golden Lions 70-69 after trailing by as many as 13 points in the contest.

The Pioneers struggled in the first half against the Golden Lions, shooting 39 percent from the field and just 14 percent from three-point range. Going into halftime the Golden Lions led 40-30.

The second half started off with a three-pointer by Dowl­ing’s senior guard Josh Malone, but after that the Pioneers began chipping away at the Golden Li­ons lead. Junior forward Vaughn Allen put up five points to cut the Dowling lead to eight. By the 14:34 mark, Allen had gotten the Pioneers within two points.

With 10:25 left in the game, sophomore forward Tyuan Williams shortened Dowling’s lead and 24 seconds later senior guard Jonathan Kohler finally propelled the Pioneers ahead with a 54-53 advantage.

The Golden Lions would give the Pioneers a scare when Dowling’s junior guard Leon Taylor hit a basket to make it a one point lead for Dowling with 21 seconds left in the game. However, the Pioneers would come up clutch during the final seconds and escape with a win.

The Pioneers finished the game shooting 42 percent from the field and 27 percent from behind the arc. Allen finished the game with 17 points, while Kohler finished with 15 of his own.

However, the Pioneers wouldn’t get as lucky on Satur­day against the Lions of Molloy.

Despite chipping away at the Lions lead and eventually taking it late in the second half, Molloy kept the game close. With just 15 seconds left in the game, senior guard Tobin Carberry gave the Pioneers a 66-63 lead after two made free throws. On the ensuing Molloy possession, the Lions made the most of it as freshman forward Kevin drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 66. LIU had one last shot at a win, but on the final pos­session of regulation the Pioneers came up empty, and the game went to overtime.

In the overtime period, the Pioneers could not get it togeth­er as Molloy quickly jumped ahead. LIU kept it close, but ulti­mately fell 75-73.

Carberry led the Pioneers with 21 points and also secured nine rebounds. Kohler added 12 points, along with two assists and one block.

The loss moves the Pioneers to 13-6 on the season and 8-3 in East Coast Conference play. The Pioneers next game is today, at Queens Col­lege scheduled for 7:30. Pregame will follow the women’s game set for approximately 7:00. All your Pioneers basketball coverage can be found on 88.1 FM or WCWP.org.