(boxscore)
 11/11/06 --
A quick start and a pair of second-half flurries helped lead Long Island University
to a season-opening victory over Binghamton, 73-59, at the
Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center on Saturday evening.
Senior guard James Williams (DeSoto, Texas) led all scorers with 17 points and
classmate Aubin Scott (Hempstead, N.Y.) had 11 points, nine rebounds and three
steals for the Blackbirds.
The Blackbirds led from the tap and never trailed, thanks to a 10-0 run to start
the game. Junior forward Paska Morkeliunas (Kaunas, Lithuania) had two layups
that sandwiched a three-pointer by Williams. Sophomore Tyrone Mattison’s
three-point play put LIU ahead by double-figures with 15:53 left in the opening
stanza.
After a layup by Troy Hailey cut the Bearcat deficit to 15-11, the Blackbirds
again went on a run as three-pointers by Tyrone Mattison (Toronto, Ontario) and
Esa Maki-Tulokas (Forssi, Finland) extended the team’s lead to 23-11.
Coming out of the break up 35-25, Long Island used five points by Morkeliunas
to pad their cushion to 42-25. From there, the Bearcats would claw their way
back and a fastbreak layup by Richard Forbes would make the score 48-44 with
10:30 remaining.
But the Blackbirds used another run, this time 9-0, to put the game away. A three-point
play by Scott put LIU up 57-44 with 8:16 left.
Morkeliunas finished with 11 points while Mattison had 13 points, six rebounds
and six assists.
Hailey and Mike Gordon led the way for Binghamton with 11 points apiece. Freshman
forward Lazar Trifunovic led all rebounders with 12, including five at the offensive
end.
Long Island travels to Minnesota to face the University of Minnesota on Friday,
Nov. 17 at 8:00 p.m. EST.
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