IU escapes LIU-Brooklyn 73-72

After a woeful shooting start in the first half – just 11-for-40 from the field – the IU men’s basketball team managed a charge in the second half, led by the reformed 3-point shooting of senior forward Will Sheehey to narrowly escape with a 73-72 win against LIU Brooklyn at Assembly Hall.
 
Sophomore guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell started the game with a three-pointer from the right corner just 20 seconds into the game. From there, the Hoosiers missed 16-straight shots from beyond the arc.
 
Indiana shot just 27.5 percent from the field in the first half, but got to the line enough to knock down 10-of-14 from the charity stripe to stay in the game.
 
The Hoosiers trailed by as many as eight points midway through the first half until freshman forward Noah Vonleh broke the drought with a hook shot in the lane after more than five minutes of scoreless IU basketball.
 
But the deficit grew once again, and it took some energy from freshman guard Stanford Robinson in the closing minute to tighten the gap for the Hoosiers.
 
Robinson went one-for-two in a trip to the free throw line and then made a bucket the next time down the floor. With just 18 seconds left, he led a breakaway that ended with an uncontested two-handed slam.
 
Graduate student guard Evan Gordon launched a 3-pointer from beyond the NBA 3-point line at the buzzer, but it missed the mark.
 
Vonleh led the Hoosiers with 10 points at the halfway point. Ferrell followed with nine.
 
The Hoosiers didn’t take too long to close the gap to start the second half. With 17:35 left in the game, Sheehey sunk his first shot of the game after starting out 0-for-7 from the floor to push IU ahead 41-40.
 
From there, both Sheehey and the Hoosiers got in sync, hitting from behind the arc with ease, but the Blackbirds continued to answer each run and even led by five with 14 minutes and two seconds remaining.
 
The game was knotted at 55-all for 2:30 before Ferrell hit his third 3-pointer of the game to push ahead 58-55, but LIU Brooklyn sunk two in a row from long range in 22 seconds to take a 61-58 lead.
 
Over the next three minutes and 39 seconds, freshman forward Troy Williams sunk a 3-pointer, followed by two more bombs from Sheehey.
 
The Blackbirds’ star Jason Brickman launched one from about 25 feet at the buzzer to give his team a shot at the upset, but it dropped short of the hoop.
 
After no field goals in the first half, Sheehey ended up with 19 points to lead the Hoosiers, including a 3-for-5 second half from distance. Vonleh followed with his second double-double of his two-game career with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Ferrell also dished in 17 points.

— Nathan Brown