Hernandez leads LIU-Brooklyn basketball back to Big Dance
Scores 32 as Blackbirds stun top-seeded Wagner for NEC Crown
Joel Hernandez wasn’t ready to end his playing days at LIU Brooklyn. He wanted to go dancing instead.
The fifth-year senior scored a career-high 32 points Tuesday night, propelling the Blackbirds to a stunning 71-61 upset of top-seeded Wagner in the Northeast Conference (NEC) title game before a capacity crowd of 2,330 at Staten Island’s Spiro Sports Center.
“I wanted to make sure I played my hardest and I left everything out on the floor,” Hernandez said after leading LIU Brooklyn back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years by going 10-of-16 from the floor, grabbing seven rebounds, blocking a pair of shots and picking up three steals in 38 spectacular minutes.