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NEC Player of the Week: Iverson Fleming, LIU
NEC Rookie of the Week: Adam Grant, BRY
Previous NEC Releases: December 5 | November 28 | November 21 | November 14 | Preseason Poll Release | Preseason All-NEC Release | NEC-TV Release

NEC MEN'S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Iverson Fleming, LIU Brooklyn
6’1”, 160 lbs.
Sr, G, North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick
Fleming claimed his second NEC Player of the Week award after keying LIU Brooklyn’s 74-73 win over St. John’s at Barclays Center on Sunday. Fleming scored the 13 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, including the final seven points of the contest as LIU improved to 7-3 on the year and earned its first win over St. John’s since the 1996-97 season. His jumper with 26 seconds to play proved to be the game-winner. Fleming added three rebounds, two assists and three steals, and hit 3-5 shots from three-point territory. The North Brunswick, NJ native also led the Blackbirds with 16 points in a setback to NC Central on Tuesday. For the week the senior guard averaged 18.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals, while hitting at an 80.0 percent clip at the line. Fleming ranks second on LIU and 14th in the conference with 13.3 ppg. He also ranks second in the NEC with 1.9 spg.  

NEC MEN'S BASKETBALL ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Adam Grant, Bryant
6’1”, 170 lbs.
Fr., G, Franklin, VA/Norfolk Collegiate School
With just 11 games under his belt, Grant has already developed into a go-to scorer on a young Bulldog squad. He led Bryant in scoring twice last week, averaging 21.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals while shooting 54.8 percent from the floor and 85.7 percent from the line. Grant netted a career-high 24 points on 11-17 shooting, and added four rebounds, five assists and two steals in a two-point loss at Navy on Tuesday. Four days later he recorded 19 points, three assists and three steals against New Hampshire. Grant has scored in double-digits in 10-of-11 career games and leads all NEC freshmen with 16.5 ppg, a figure that ranks him fifth overall in the conference. He is also eighth in field goal percentage (.516) and made three-pointers (2.18/gm), and 10th in three-point accuracy (.407). Grant, who hails from Franklin, VA, joins classmate Sabastian Townes as Bryant players who have been tabbed NEC Rookie of the Week this season.  

NEC PRIME PERFORMERS

Tidell Pierre (CCSU, Sr, F)
Pierre shot 73.3 percent from the field last week in leading the Blue Devils with 13.0 ppg and 7.5 rpg over two contests. He erupted for a career-high 21 points in a narrow setback at Duquesne on Saturday, hitting 8-11 from the floor including both his shots from distance.

Darian Anderson (FDU, Jr, G)
Anderson scored his 1,000th career point on Saturday in a career-high 33 point effort at Towson. He drained six three-pointers on the afternoon and finished the week averaging 20.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg and 3.5 apg.

Stephan Jiggetts (FDU, Jr, G)
Red-hot from the field, Jiggetts converted 52.6 percent of his shot opportunities, including 5-7 from three-point range for the Knights. He averaged 19.5 ppg last week and also set the table with 7.0 apg.

Jerome Frink (LIU, Sr, F)
Frink averaged a double-double with 15.0 ppg and 10.0 rpg last week. He scored 20 points and pulled down 12 caroms in LIU’s 74-73 win over St. John’s on Sunday.

Quincy McKnight (SHU, So, G)
McKnight averaged 19.3 ppg and 7.0 rpg in a 2-1 week for the Pioneers with wins over UMass Lowell and Lafayette. The sophomore established a new career-high with 34 points and added nine rebounds and five assists in the 91-82 win over UMass Lowell on Tuesday. McKnight went to the line 25 times in three games, converting 20 of the attempts.

Yunus Hopkinson (SFBK, Sr, G)
Hopkinson comes off his best week of the season with 20.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg and 4.0 apg over three contests. He set new career-highs with 28 points and 10 rebounds in his first-ever double-double effort in the Terriers’ win over Mount St. Vincent on Wednesday. Hopkinson also hit 6-10 from three-point range in a 20-point performance against Lafayette on Monday.

BLACKBIRDS TAKE DOWN RED STORM AT BARCLAYS
    
Two decades ago, LIU Brooklyn was making noise in the metropolitan area with a team loaded with all-time #NECMBB greats, including Charles Jones, Mike Campbell and Richie Parker.

The Blackbirds won the NEC title in 1997 and reached the 1998 title game with a free-flowing, high-scoring frenetic attack.

In that two year run, LIU’s signature win came on November 23, 1996 over a St. John’s team with Felipe Lopez and Zendon Hamilton starring for the Red Storm. The 76-73 victory, sealed on Dave Masciale’s three-point play with 3.3 seconds left on the clock, was the first victory for LIU over St. John’s since 1936 and came in Fran Fraschilla’s first game as head coach of the Red Storm.

Fast forward 20 years and a couple of weeks, and there were those same Blackbirds and Red Storm on the court, this time with LIU Brooklyn hosting the matinee in the Barclays Center.

LIU raced out to a 10-point lead early on, but St. John’s battled back and the game went into the break tied at 42-apiece in a high-scoring first 20 minutes.

The second half saw the Red Storm lead by as many as seven points with under 12 minutes to play, but senior forward Jerome Frink (Jersey City, NJ/St. Anthony (FIU)) fueled a 9-0 run with five points as LIU reclaimed a 60-58 lead with 8:52 to play.

It was a nip-and-tuck battle from that point forward. With St. John’s up 73-69 and with less than 90 seconds remaining, senior guard Iverson Fleming (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick) drilled a three-pointer, and following a Red Storm turnover, hit a jumper with 26 ticks left on the clock to give the Blackbirds a 74-73 lead.

Junior forward Nura Zanna (Kaduna, Nigeria/Coral Springs Christian (FL)) came up with two steals in the waning seconds as the teams traded turnovers. It all came down to the final shot, but Shamorie Ponds jumper was off the mark and the Blackbirds came away with the victory.

“It’s such a huge win,” said LIU head coach Jack Perri. “It definitely puts us in a place we want to be. I’m trying to get these guys to understand that this is their last chance to create a legacy for themselves. It’s been a while since we went to the NCAA tournament, and these guys have a chance to do something special if they really focus, and appreciate every single day, and a game like this, obviously you feel some gratification from it. I think this will help these guys understand that this is why we prepare every single day, why I’m preaching that your preparation is so important every single day. When we talk about ‘the will to win,’ we talk about winning every possession and to get that competitive edge. It’s a great win for our program.”

Fraschilla, who was on the losing end of the encounter 20 years earlier, couldn’t resist chiming in after the game.

Fran Fraschilla @franfraschilla
Congrats to @JackPerri & @LIUBasketball. Sorry for Saint John’s but love it when “little guys” win. @NECsports

Frink and Zanna controlled the paint against the Big East opponent with each registering a double-double. Frink finished with 20 points and 12 boards, while Zanna tallied 13 points, 11 rebounds and four steals. Fleming led all scorers with 21 points, including 3-5 from outside the arc.
Fleming scored the last seven LIU points and had 13 in the second half.

“It’s a mindset and our coach preaches to us to have ‘the will to win,’” Fleming said. “That’s what I try to do every day I step on the court: have a will to win, and to help my teammates as best as I can. At that point in time, I was just trying to be aggressive and get the best shot possible, and it fell.”

LIU BROOKLYN WIN IN PERSPECTIVE
LIU Brooklyn’s conquest of St. John’s was the NEC’s second notable win against a major conference opponent this season. Wagner knocked off then #18 UConn on the opening day of the regular season.

It also marked LIU’s first win over a major conference foe since the victory over the Red Storm referenced above.
 
NOTABLE VICTORIES AGAINST MAJOR CONFERENCE OPPOSITION
LIU Brooklyn 74, St. John’s 73 (12/11/16)
Wagner 67, #18 UConn 58 (11/11/16)
Saint Francis U 73, Rutgers 68 (12/20/14)
Robert Morris 89, St. John’s 78 (3/18/14 - Postseason NIT)
Fairleigh Dickinson 58, Seton Hall 54 (12/01/13)
Fairleigh Dickinson 73, Rutgers 72 (11/25/13)
St. Francis Brooklyn 66, Miami 62 (OT) (11/8/13)
Robert Morris 59, Kentucky 57 (3/19/13)
Bryant 56, Boston College 54 (11/25/12)
Wagner 59, #15 Pittsburgh 54 (12/23/11)
Robert Morris 57, Boston College 51 (1/7/08)
Fairleigh Dickinson 76, Seton Hall 71 (11/18/06)
St. Francis (NY) 53, St. John’s 52 (11/23/04)
Monmouth 81, Vanderbilt 67 (11/24/01)
CCSU 54, Providence 50 (12/21/99)
LIU Brooklyn 76, St. John’s 73 (11/23/96)
Mount St. Mary’s 71, #21 Georgia Tech 69 (12/18/95)
Fairleigh Dickinson 55, Providence 53 (12/19/84)
LIU Brooklyn 72, Providence 65 (12/23/83) 

FDU’s ANDERSON REACHES 1,000-POINT CLUB
As part of the NEC’s youth takeover, this is the rare season in which no active player entered the year with 1,000 career points. In fact, it took a month of play before we saw our first new entrant to the millennium club.

On Saturday, Fairleigh Dickinson junior guard Darian Anderson (Washington, D.C./St. John’s College) became the 208th player in the league’s 36-year history to reach the milestone when he scored a game and career-high 33 points in a 90-87 setback at Towson.

Anderson, who drained a career-high six three-pointers, crossed the plateau in his 71st career game. The Washington, D.C. native and returning second team All-NEC honoree has started every game since arriving in Hackensack back in 2014. 

“It was great for Darian, Steph (Jiggetts) and Earl (Potts Jr.) to come back to their home state and to perform the way that they did,” said FDU head coach Greg Herenda after the game. “For Darian to get his 1,000th point in front of his family and friends was just awesome. I am so proud of Darian and the great thing is...he has many more chapters to write at Fairleigh Dickinson.”

Now up to 1,009 points for his career, Anderson currently ranks second in the NEC with 19.4 ppg. He is also second in three-pointers made (3.0/game) and free throw percentage (.875), and seventh in three-point accuracy (.435).

YOUTH MOVEMENT BREAKDOWN
In a sport where coaches often lean heavily on their veteran players, the NEC is a young man’s league this year. Underclassman have accounted for 49.3 percent of the scoring this season. Remarkably, freshmen and sophomore for Saint Francis U and Bryant have accounted for well in excess of 80 percent of their respective team’s point production.

Percentage of Scoring By Underclassmen
Saint Francis U: 87.8 percent
Bryant: 82.1 percent
St. Francis Brooklyn: 61.4 percent
Robert Morris: 54.4 percent
Mount St. Mary’s: 49.9 percent
Fairleigh Dickinson: 49.0 percent
LIU Brooklyn: 46.6 percent
Sacred Heart: 38.5 percent
CCSU: 35.9 percent
Wagner: 27.7 percent

POTTS JR. MAKES 2016-17 DEBUT
After missing the first seven games with an injury, Fairleigh Dickinson fans were breathing a sigh of relief when junior swingman Earl Potts Jr. (Severn, MD/Archbishop Spalding (Coastal Academy (NJ))) returned to the hardwood on Wednesday when the Knights faced intra-state rival Seton Hall.

Potts Jr., who was tabbed the NEC’s Most Improved Player, NEC Tournament MVP and second team All-NEC last season, came off the bench to score five points and snare four boards in 19 minutes of work.

Herenda was understandably pleased to have his star back in the fold with NEC competition looming on the horizon and the Knights hungry to defend their league crown.

“We finally have our full complement of players back,” said Herenda. “We have three non-conference games to get our rotations set for conference play. We will be fine.”

Three days later, Potts Jr. was back in the starting lineup at Towson, where he finished with 13 points and six rebounds in 36 minutes.

STEEL CITY SHOWDOWN GOES TO RMU...AGAIN
The annual Steel City showdown between Robert Morris and Duquesne has been a rather one-sided affair in recent years, and the latest chapter between the two programs followed the same script when they met last Wednesday at the PPG Paints Arena.

In a nip-and-tuck battle, RMU sophomore guard Isaiah Still (Rahway, NJ/Union Catholic) converted a layup in traffic with 15 seconds to play and then rejected a shot on the ensuing possession. After freshman guard Clive Allen (Bronx, NY/Cardinal Hayes) sealed the deal with four free throws in the final seven seconds, the Colonials secured their sixth win in the last seven meetings with the Dukes.

“I always take games against Duquesne personal,” said RMU senior guard Kavon Stewart (Paterson, NJ/Hudson Catholic). “A lot of the city is based off of Pitt of course, and they always say Duquesne and mention us last. I’ve been here for three years and went 3-1 against them. I come out with a chip on my shoulder and say this game is personal.”

Still finished with a game-high 22 points on 7-13 shooting from the floor and a perfect 4-4 from three-point range. Allen netted a career-best 11 points and Stewart added 12 for the Colonials.

ALL ABOUT BALANCE
As Sacred Heart rank away with an 85-61 road win over Lafayette on Sunday, the most eye-catching stat was the Pioneers’ balanced scoring.

The Pios finished with six players in double figures for the game, all scoring between 12 and 14 points.

It marked the third time this season an NEC team placed six players in double digits. Saint Francis U (vs. Chatham on November 19) and CCSU (vs. Maine on November 30) also accomplished the feat.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? CCSU’S KEN HORTON
Every once in awhile a player comes through the conference that is the total package. The equivalent of the five-tool player in baseball.

CCSU all-time great Ken Horton certainly fits that description.

With a smooth as silk inside-outside game, the lean, lanky 6’6” forward from Ossining, NY was a three-time All-NEC performer, including back-to-back first team accolades in his final two years. After missing the 2009-10 season due to an injury, Horton came back strong in his junior season, averaging a league-high 19.5 ppg to go along with 8.9 rpg en-route to NEC Player of the Year honors. As a senior he ranked in the NEC top-five in scoring (19.0), rebounding (8.9), steals (2.1) and blocks (1.4) in leading the Blue Devils to a 19-win campaign and a spot in the NEC semifinals.

2012 NEC Feature on Horton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxovPfdYGEE

Horton finished his CCSU career with 1,966 points to rank seventh in conference history. He also ranks in the NEC top-20 with 842 rebounds and hit 158 career three-pointers. 

Horton college highlight reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSLp2tBk-hU

After competing in the Portsmouth Invitational following graduation, he embarked on a professional career. Over the last five years he has played for six different teams competing in France, Cyprus, Mexico, Australia, Finland and Germany, where he is currently stationed.

Playing for Telekom Baskets Bonn, he is averaging 8.6 ppg and 4.7 rpg. Two weeks ago he went head-to-head with former Robert Morris standout and fellow NEC Player of the Year Karvel Anderson, who plays for Bremerhaven. Horton finished with 13 points and six boards, while Anderson netted 15 points.

A year ago, Horton contributed 12.4 ppg and shot 61.1 percent from the floor for Medi Bayreuth.

Horton highlight reel dunk vs. Medi Bayreuth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHFu9WDbD10

QUICK HITTERS
Bryant sophomore guard Nisre Zouzoua (Brockton, MA/Boston Trinity) not only leads the NEC in scoring, but his 21.2 ppg ranks him 30th nationally.

Mount freshman guard Miles Wilson (Reisterstown, MD/Mount St. Joseph) contributed 14.5 ppg and hit 9-10 from the line last week for the Mount. He scored 14 in 17 minutes off the bench against UMBC on Wednesday. He earned his first career start on Saturday against Lehigh and tied for team-high honors with 15 points. Wilson is third on the Mount with 9.6 ppg on the year.

St. Francis Brooklyn freshman guard Rasheem Dunn (Brooklyn, NY/Thomas Jefferson) comes off another outstanding week, averaging 14.3 ppg and 3.3 rpg over three contests. He racked up a career-high 21 points on 7-12 shooting from the field at Canisius on Saturday. Dunn, who has reached double figures in four of his last five outings, ranks third on the Terriers and third among NEC freshmen with 12.6 ppg on the year.

Saint Francis U ranks fifth nationally in three-point percentage, converting at a 43.2 percent clip. Sophomore forward Josh Nebo (Houston, TX/Cypress Lakes) is sixth in field goal percentage at 70.4 percent.

Wagner junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) hit 5-8 from three-point range and scored a team-high 19 points in Saturday’s 68-66 win at Morgan State. His two free throws with 22 seconds remaining broke a 66-66 deadlock and were the final points of the contest as the Seahawks survived three-point and layup attempts in the final seconds. Henson leads Wagner with 14.7 ppg this season.

Wagner sophomore forward AJ Sumbry (East Windsor, NJ/St. Benedict’s Prep (Quinnipiac)) recorded his first career double-double on Saturday, finishing with career-highs in points (11) and rebounds (10) at Morgan State. 

TWEET DECK

Ryan Peters @pioneer_pride
Today’s SHU box score must be a thing of beauty for @AnthonyLatina: 
*6 score in double figures
*1.4 A/TO
*41.9% FTA/FGA
*+15 rebound margin

Anthony Rushing Jr. @TonyRushingNY
Big...BIG win for @LIUBasketball today and for the #NECMBB.

G @sir_mont
So Duquesne beats Pitt, and Robert Morris beats Duquesne.... That must mean RMU is the best team in Pittsburgh.

Ryan Peters @pioneer_prid
That’s a nice win by Robert Morris over Duquesne. All is right at the PPG Paints Arena - Andy Toole even wore a tie tonight!

Nelson Castillo @NelCastBHJ  
Lost in my LIU madness today, Sacred Heart beatdown Lafayette on the road by 24. Pios had 6 players in double figures. #NECMBB

Greg Thompson @gregthompson27
Jerome Frink got them there. Nura Zanna kept them there. Iverson Fleming finished it.

Brian Shanahan @CoachBShanahan
Congrats to @ThePhelpsSchool Sacred Heart G Quincy Mcknight 34pts 9rebs 5asst tonight in the W over Umass Lowell. Way to go Q!