Sharks’ comeback bid foiled by Lions

Freshman Eric Acker scored 20 points and junior Tana Kopa added 15 off the bench Tuesday night, but the Long Island University men’s basketball team was unable to pull off its first win of the season, dropping a 77-67 decision to Columbia in front of 622 fans at Levien Gym.

Acker, an East New York native who guided Eagle Academy for Young Men II to its first-ever Public School Athletic League championship earlier this year, buried 8-of-17 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers.

However, the Lions (4-2) ran out to a 19-point first-half lead on the Sharks (0-4) and never looked back en route to their fourth straight win.

Junior Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa poured in 19 points and sophomore Avery Brown added 13 for Columbia, which did get a second-half scare when LIU cut the deficit to 49-43 on a pair of free throws by first-year center Gezim Bajrami with 11:32 remaining.

Rubio De La Rosa responded, driving for a pair of layups and draining two big free throws down the stretch to leave the Sharks winless heading into Friday afternoon’s opener of the NKU Thanksgiving Tournament in Highland Heights, Kentucky.

LIU will take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi before meeting host Northern Kentucky on Saturday.

On the women’s side, senior guard Ashley Austin scored a game-high 18 points Saturday, but the Sharks fell to 0-4 as well with a 54-51 setback to visiting Lafayette before 175 fans at the Steinberg Wellness Center.

Sophomore Mariah Elohim and junior Amaya Dowdy added 10 points apiece for LIU, which will try again to get off the schneid when it hosts CSU Bakersfield in Downtown Brooklyn on Saturday night.

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In local Division III women’s basketball action, senior guard Ericka James scored 15 points and junior backcourt mate Alina Estrella added 10 Tuesday as the reigning three-time CUNYAC champion Brooklyn College Bulldogs held off borough rival St. Joseph’s in front of 88 fans at The Hill Center.

Estrella also grabbed 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs (3-1), who won their second in a row.

Fourth-year forward Sarah James had seven points and pulled down a game-high 11 boards for BC, which will visit Centenary University in Hackettstown, N.J., on Monday.

The BC men were unable to come back for their first win of the year despite a furious comeback during Tuesday’s 79-72 loss to visiting Rivier in front of 102 fans at the West Quad Center.

Junior guards Zuric Harvey and Serge Thraysbule scored 18 points apiece for the Bulldogs (0-6), who trailed by as many as 27 points before using a late 19-4 run to cut the deficit to six.

Junior guard David McFadden added 10 points for BC, which will return to action Monday against visiting Ramapo College.

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Trying to avoid a season high-tying third consecutive loss, the Nets will be in Atlanta on Wednesday night to visit the Hawks.

Brooklyn (6-7), which has suffered a pair of late first-half collapses in back-to-back losses to Miami and Philadelphia, respectively, will once again be without leading scorer Cam Thomas (ankle) and top rebounder Ben Simmons (back).

The Hawks (6-7) are coming off Tuesday night’s 157-152 home loss to Indiana despite 38 points and eight assists from Trae Young in the highest-scoring game in the NBA this year.

Dejounte Murray scored 28 points and former Net Bogdan Bogdanovic added 26 for Atlanta, which lost its third in a row and will be trying to avoid a dismal 0-4 homestand Wednesday.

Early season NBA Sixth Man of the Year candidate Lonnie Walker IV scored a season-high 26 points in Sunday’s loss to the 76ers for Brooklyn, which has not lost three in a row since Oct. 30-Nov. 3.