Freshman center Gezim Bajrami and the LIU Sharks fell to 0-4 on the young season with Tuesday’s loss to Columbia in Manhattan. Photo courtesy of LIU Athletics
Freshman Eric Acker scored 20 points and junior Tana Kopa added 15 off the bench Tuesday night, but the Long Island University men’s basketball team was unable to pull off its first win of the season, dropping a 77-67 decision to Columbia in front of 622 fans at Levien Gym.
Acker, an East New York native who guided Eagle Academy for Young Men II to its first-ever Public School Athletic League championship earlier this year, buried 8-of-17 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers.
However, the Lions (4-2) ran out to a 19-point first-half lead on the Sharks (0-4) and never looked back en route to their fourth straight win.
Junior Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa poured in 19 points and sophomore Avery Brown added 13 for Columbia, which did get a second-half scare when LIU cut the deficit to 49-43 on a pair of free throws by first-year center Gezim Bajrami with 11:32 remaining.
Rubio De La Rosa responded, driving for a pair of layups and draining two big free throws down the stretch to leave the Sharks winless heading into Friday afternoon’s opener of the NKU Thanksgiving Tournament in Highland Heights, Kentucky.
LIU will take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi before meeting host Northern Kentucky on Saturday.
On the women’s side, senior guard Ashley Austin scored a game-high 18 points Saturday, but the Sharks fell to 0-4 as well with a 54-51 setback to visiting Lafayette before 175 fans at the Steinberg Wellness Center.
Sophomore Mariah Elohim and junior Amaya Dowdy added 10 points apiece for LIU, which will try again to get off the schneid when it hosts CSU Bakersfield in Downtown Brooklyn on Saturday night.
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In local Division III women’s basketball action, senior guard Ericka James scored 15 points and junior backcourt mate Alina Estrella added 10 Tuesday as the reigning three-time CUNYAC champion…
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