In a back-and-forth game, the Stony Brook men’s basketball team was denied a chance at its first winning streak of the season.
The Seawolves (3-8) hosted the Marist Red Foxes (7-2, 2-0 MAAC) at Stony Brook Arena on Tuesday night. Despite leading by as much as 12, Stony Brook struggled to create offense in the second half en route to a 68-66 loss.
After both sides traded blows, the Seawolves started to heat up from the field going on a 16-2 run that was capped off by guard Jared Frey hitting a deep three-pointer to make it 30-16.
On the heels of its offensive outburst, Stony Brook scored only six points after grabbing its 14-point lead. A staunch defensive effort helped the Red Foxes trim the deficit to six points, trailing 36-30 at halftime.
The second half started the same as the first, with both teams exchanging baskets until Marist grabbed a 53-52 lead — its first in over 25 minutes. The lead proved to be short-lived, as the sides swapped control of the score four more times until the Red Foxes tied up the game at 58 with 3:23 left.
Marist recaptured the lead after guard Josh Pascarelli drilled a deep, high-arching triple. After both teams netted free throws, Marist forward Jaden Daughtry drained a wide-open three from the right wing, putting the Red Foxes up 65-59 with 2:06 remaining.
Following Daughtry’s three, forward Ben Wight and guard C.J. Luster II delivered tough baskets in the paint, which cut the Seawolves’ deficit to 65-63 leaving 46 ticks on the clock. As Marist was trying to ice the game and the shot clock down to five seconds, Pascarelli stepped back and connected on a fadeaway jumper near the free-throw line that extended the Red Foxes’ lead to 67-63 with 23 seconds to play.
In the ensuing possession, forward Andre Snoddy grabbed an offensive rebound and scored an and-one close-range bucket. He then hit from the line, converting the three-point play and cutting the Seawolves deficit to 67-66 with just 10 seconds left. Pascarelli was intentionally fouled on the next possession and missed his free throw attempt, leaving the door open for Stony Brook.
With 5.4 seconds on the clock and the opportunity to win with a basket, guard Joe Octave grabbed the inbound pass and quickly drove towards the hoop. Before going up for the shot, he dished a sharp left pass to Snoddy underneath who lost possession while going up for the shot, giving possession back to Marist. After being again intentionally fouled, Pascarelli knocked down one of his two free throw attempts, with the miss draining enough clock to hand the Red Foxes a 68-66 victory.
“It was a good college basketball game that we had a layup to win,” head coach Geno Ford said in a postgame interview with Stony Brook Athletics. “Unfortunately we didn’t convert it, but give Marist credit for making a couple big shots in crunch time and dominating the offensive glass. We lost the game on the backboard, but we are playing much better than we were a few weeks ago.”
The Seawolves put up a .444/.348/.818 shooting line. Marist marginally outperformed Stony Brook’s numbers from the field, posting a .459/.333/.400 shooting line.
Leading the Seawolves in scoring for the third consecutive game was Luster II, who scored 15 points on four-of-eight shooting from the field. Frey and guard Joe Octave were the team’s only other double-digit scorers with 12 and 11, respectively.
The Red Foxes were led by guard Elijah Lewis who dropped 16 points and Pascarelli who added 15 of his own. Marist had two other double-digit scorers with Daughtry and center Jackson Price chipping in 10 apiece.
Stony Brook will look to get back in the win column as they host the Maine Black Bears on Saturday for its final home game in the calendar year. The Black Bears are 8-5 overall and are winners in four of their last five after an 84-79 victory over Canisius. Opening tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.
