BELFAST, Northern Ireland – The Marist men's basketball team defeated LIU Brooklyn 70-53 to win the Samson Bracket championship in the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic.
 
Senior guard Brian Parker was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, and freshman guard Darius Hines was named to the All-Tournament Team.
   

Summary

• LIU Brooklyn hit its first three field goal attempts, and jumped out to an 8-2 lead.
• Marist answered with a 14-0 run over the next 5:09 and took the lead for good.
• The Blackbirds then scored three points in a row, but the Red Foxes responded with 13 more points in a row as they took their largest lead of the first half (29-11, with 6:49 left in the half).
• Marist led 37-20 at halftime.
• The Red Foxes' lead reached as high as 27, which occurred on two occasions in the second half.
• LIU Brooklyn outscored Marist 12-6 over the final three minutes. The final margin of 17 was the closest the game was since the start of the second half.

Key Stats

• Four Red Foxes scored in double digits. Senior guard Brian Parker scored a game-high 15 points, followed by senior forward Isaiah Lamb and junior center Tobias Sjoberg with 12 points apiece, and freshman guard Darius Hines with 10.
• Lamb had a game-high rebounds, and also had three steals.
• Marist shot .474 (27-for-57) from the field, while LIU Brooklyn shot .321 (17-for-53).
• Craig Owens, Jr. led LIU Brooklyn with 10 points.
• The Red Foxes held Raiquan Clark, LIU Brooklyn's leading scorer who came in averaging 23.0 points per game, to a season-low eight points.

Notes

• This was Marist's first in-season championship since capturing the Pepsi-Marist Classic in 2006, and its first away from the Marist campus since 1984 (United First Federal Classic, hosted by Florida Southern).
• Parker averaged 16.5 points, 5.5 assists, and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting .650 (13-for-20) from the field en route to being named Tournament MVP.
• Hines averaged 10.0 points, 2.0 assists, 2.0 rebounds per game en route to being named to the All-Tournament Team. He shot .538 (7-for-13) from the field, 1.000 (5-for-5) from the free-throw line, and took three charges in two games. He also did not commit a turnover in 54 minutes.
• LIU Brooklyn's field goal percentage of .321 was the lowest allowed by the Red Foxes.
• Marist held both of its opponents in Belfast under 40 percent of the field, as Dartmouth shot .377 in Thursday's game.

Quote of the Day

"I thought we controlled the game from start to finish," Marist head coach John Dunne said. "The guys played with great passion, desire, and poise."
 

Records

• Marist improved to 3-4.
• LIU Brooklyn is now 4-4.  

Up Next

The Red Foxes return to action on Saturday, Dec. 8 at Stetson. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.