Jordan, Celen lead St. Francis Brooklyn to 79-70 win
NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Jordan scored 20 points and Deniz Celen 18 and St. Francis Brooklyn withstood an early second-half drought to beat borough rival LIU Brooklyn 79-70 on Monday for the Terriers' third straight win.
Jordan made four of the Terriers' 11 3-pointers, three in the first half when St. Francis (12-7, 4-2 Northeast) took a 50-31 halftime lead after shooting 59 percent and making 8 of 15 from the arc.
The Blackbirds (9-9, 3-3) began the second half on a 17-2 run with Raiquan Clark scoring 10 points while the Terriers went 1 for 10. Stevan Krtinic's 3-pointer capped an 11-3 Terriers run to restore a 12-point lead with 5:48 remaining. The lead remained in double figures until a Ty Flowers' 3 cut it to eight and Julian Batts added two free throws with 54 seconds left. Glenn Sanabria, who finished with 15 points, made 5 of 6 six free throws to keep LIU at bay.
The Terriers opened the game on a 13-1 run with a 17-3 surge making it a 19-point lead with 1:55 left in the half.
Clark, the NEC's scoring leader at 21.3 ppg coming in, scored 29 points and grabbed 14 rebounds — his fourth double-double this season — to lead the Blackbirds.
