Last month — last year! last decade! — we announced our quest to see every college basketball venue in the city, which we kicked off with a visit to Peter Aquilone Court in Brooklyn Heights to see the St. Francis (NY) Terriers lose to the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils. Tonight, we return to the Northeast Conference to see the Robert Morris Colonials face the Long Island Blackbirds.
We’ll be at the Wellness, Recreation and Athletics Center on the LIU campus in Brooklyn for a 7:30 tip-off, ready to rev it up. It’s our second of eight stops, because we’re very devoted. The upcoming schedule:
Wednesday, January 13 (doubleheader at MSG)
Cincinnati at St. John’s
Dayton at Fordham
Friday, January 29
Harvard at Columbia
Saturday, February 13
George Washington at Fordham
Monday, February 15
Fairfield at Manhattan
Thursday, February 18
Bryant at Wagner
Wednesday, February 24
Marquette at St. John’s (in Jamaica)
It’s a key game tonight in the Northeast Conference: Both Robert Morris and Long Island are 2–0 in the league. (This, despite the fact that Long Island has lost six games in a row.)
As always, we simulated the whole game with NCAA Basketball 2010 on our PlayStation 3, and it was a thriller. A three-pointer at the buzzer from Blackbirds forward Julian Boyd sent the game into overtime, but after that, Robert Morris took over, scoring the first ten points to secure an 83–66 victory. The Colonials’ leading scorer was Rob Robinson, who had 25 points (on twelve-of-sixteen shooting) and sixteen rebounds. Boyd was the standout for Long Island, with 22 points and nine boards, but it’s difficult to win when your team shoots 32 percent from the field, like the Blackbirds.
And yes: We sat and watched our video game play itself for an hour. It’s what we do, for you.
The Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center is at the corner of Ashland and DeKalb Avenues in Brooklyn, and, shockingly, tickets are still available. We can’t wait. Back with a full report tomorrow. Go Blackbirds!