Bethea leads surging Terriers past Sharks

The St. Francis Brooklyn men’s basketball team is heating up for the stretch run of the Northeast Conference season.

And redshirt freshman Zion Bethea is providing plenty of firepower off the bench.

Bethea scored a game-high 18 points to grab Battle of Brooklyn Most Valuable Player honors as the Terriers used a late first-half run to pull away from the arch rival Long Island University Sharks Saturday night in front of 223 fans at The ARC.

Chasing its first win in the annual rivalry game in three years, SFC (11-11, 4-5 NEC) was clinging to a four-point, first-half lead before Bethea and Trey Quartlebaum combined to go a perfect 4-of-4 from 3-point range, sparking an 18-6 run that gave the Terriers a 44-28 cushion at intermission.

“My teammates found me the ball and coaches trusted me and I was able to get it done,” said Bethea, who finished 5-of-12 from the floor, handed out six assists and grabbed four rebounds in his Battle of Brooklyn debut.

“Honestly we were moving the ball,” Bethea added. “Coach (Glenn Braica)practiced that all the time, moving the ball is really the key.”

Tedrick Wilcox Jr., added 15 points, Josiah Harris had 14 and Quartlebaum finished with 12 for the Terriers, who were coming off last Thursday’s win at Staten Island rival Wagner.

SFC has won five of its last seven overall to climb into a three-way tie for sixth place in the NEC with seven games to go before the NEC Tournament.

“As a team we played very well together today,” Bethea said. “And I’m so happy that we got the win today. And I can’t even ask for anything more.”

The Sharks (3-19, 1-9) are at the bottom of the conference standings. They were led by R.J. Greene’s 17 points and 12 by Tre Wood en route to their ninth defeat in the last 10 games.

LIU will be back in action Thursday evening at…