Saul Cohen

Cohen was a member of Long Island University's basketball team in 1941 when they won the NIT (National Invitational Tournament) championship.

Birth and Death Dates:
unknown

Career Highlights:
A guard and forward during his career at Long Island University, Cohen stepped right into the starting line-up as a sophomore in 1941. Joining a senior backcourt of Butch Schwartz and Ossie Schectman, Cohen played forward and finished fourth on the team with 151 points (14th in the Metropolitan area). Appearing in every game, Schwartz helped lead LIU to a regular season record of 22-2 and the school’s third straight appearance in the NIT (National Invitational Tournament), the most prestigious postseason tournament at the time.

LIU had already won the NIT once (in 1939, the second year of the competition's existence), and were considered a top seed in the 1941 tournament. In the first round, the Blackbirds defeated 20-1 Westminster College by the score of 48-36. In the second round, Cohen scored three points toward LIU’s brilliant 49-26 victory over Seton Hall, ending Seton Hall’s 43-game winning streak. In the final, the Blackbirds defeated Ohio University, 56-42, to win their second NIT championship (the first school to win two postseason championships). Cohen scored three points in the final match and capped his NIT performance with a 4.3 points per game average.

In 1942, Cohen took on an even larger role for the Blackbirds, who had lost their backcourt starters(Schwartz and Schectman) from the NIT champion team. Although he did not start every game, Cohen continued to score with consistency and finished with 149 points, fourth on the team. With a new backcourt of Howie Rader, and Stan Waxman, LIU finished 24-2 and was ranked No. 2 in the East by the New York Times. The Blackbirds returned to the NIT as defending champions and seeded No. 1 in the tournament. In their first-round game against No. 8 seed West Virginia, Cohen scored a team-high 12 points, but the Blackbirds were upset in overtime 58-49 in overtime.

In 1943, Cohen's senior season, LIU compiled a respectable, though not stellar, regular season record of 13-6. It was wartime and Rader and Waxman were both serving in the U.S. Army that year. Still, Cohen remained one of the Blackbirds' best players and was named All-Metropolitan honorable mention (one of only two LIU players who received All-Met distinction).

Origin:
unknown

Career Dates:
Cohen played guard and forward at LIU from 1940-1943.