Danes fall on first leg of trip

Ualbany men commit 26 turnovers vs. Liu-brooklyn in Belfast Classic matchup

So much for the University at Albany basketball team’s relaxing trip to Northern Ireland.

The Great Danes were under pressure from the start of their Belfast Classic game Thursday night against Liu-brooklyn, committing a seasonhigh 26 turnovers in an 80-77 loss at SSE Arena.

Ualbany (2-5), which lost its third straight, will play at noon EST Friday in the consolation game against Dartmouth, a 76-58 loser to Marist in the opening game of the bracket.

“When you’re a young, inexperienced team, you have to learn how to win,” Ualbany coach Will Brown said in a phone interview after the game. “We’re putting ourselves in position to win games. We’re just not closing.”

The Danes trailed by two with 10 seconds left when Cameron Healy’s pass deflected off the hands of teammates Ahmad Clark and Devonte Campbell, leading to a steal by Jashaun Agosto.

Agosto made the first of two free throws, and Campbell’s desperation shot from half-court at the buzzer missed the mark.

Clark, the point guard, played 34 minutes despite spraining his ankle Thursday in practice. He led the Danes with 24 points. He had six rebounds and five assists, but also six turnovers.

“Ahmad’s the least of my concerns right now,” Brown said.

LIU (4-3) played a pressing, up-tempo style similar to that of Iona, which forced Ualbany into 22 turnovers Nov. 9 in a 72-68 loss in the season opener.

Clark seemed to be the only Danes player capable of getting the ball past half court.

“He didn’t get any help,” Brown said. “We had guys running away from the ball instead of coming back to the ball. Once Ahmad started dribbling it, guys started watching. Everything was a step slow. Between the turnovers against pressure and some of the careless turnovers — like running the baseline when you’re not allowed to run the baseline and the illegal screens and the travels when we had 2-on-1 and 3-on-2 situations against the press — it’s a lot of self-inflicted stuff.”

Ualbany was on top at halftime 32-23 and led by as many as 12. Healy finished with 22 points, 14 of them in the first five minutes of the second half.

Liu-brooklyn was 9-for-10 to open the half, and Ualbany answered with 8-for-9 accuracy.

The Danes still led 71-63 with 6:25 remaining before the Blackbirds went on a 10-0 run. Raiquan Clark, who scored 27, capped the run with a layup, giving LIU its first lead since the opening nine minutes of the game.

“We lost all of our toughness in (Greig) Stire and (Travis) Charles,” said Brown, referring to his two graduating inside players, “and with the grad transfers (Joe Cremo, David Nichols) we lost talent. Right now, if we just had that toughness, that grit about us, we’d have a couple more wins.

“We’ve got to get to that point. You have to earn wins. We’ve got to get a little grittier as a team. We’re not consistent, whether it’s a scouting report, offensive execution, defensive execution, we have lulls and lapses.”

Ualbany tied the score twice in the final five minutes before Julian Batts’ three-point play with 1:37 remaining gave the Blackbirds the lead for good.

Freshman Adam Lulka had career highs of 15 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out with 2.7 seconds to play. Junior Kendall Lauderdale had eight points in 12 minutes off the bench.

The team has been in Belfast since early Monday morning, busy with both sightseeing and practices. Belfast time is five hours ahead of Albany time.

“You have to be careful with practices over here with the travel, the time difference,” Brown said. “I’m sure every team here has had guys who have had trouble sleeping and adjusting to that. I’m tired, so I can imagine how our team feels, but every team is dealing with the same thing. We’ve practiced, but I don’t think it’s the quality of practice that we’d have if we were back at home. That’s OK, because you don’t want to pass up an opportunity like this.”

The Belfast Classic consolation game will be the first of two meetings between Ualbany and Dartmouth in a 16-day period. The teams have a game scheduled for Dec. 15 at SEFCU Arena.