Coming down to the final seconds of play, a costly foul sank the Stony Brook men’s basketball team’s comeback effort.
The Seawolves (6-22, 2-13 CAA) continued their road trip Saturday afternoon, taking on the North Carolina A&T (N.C. A&T) Aggies (7-22, 3-13 CAA) in a Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) matchup. Although Stony Brook battled against a great second half shooting performance from N.C. A&T, it would be the free throws at the end of regulation that led to its 73-72 defeat.
The Seawolves controlled the tempo of the game early, with a spot-up three pointer from guard Collin O’Connor putting his team up 11-9 in the early going. Stony Brook had the upper hand for much of the half, but N.C. A&T stayed within arms reach, drawing as close as one point with 5:01 left in the period. A pair of threes by forward Leon Nahar powered a run that gave the Seawolves an eight-point advantage, but the Aggies responded with a three from guard Jahnathan Lamonte, making the score 38-33 going into the locker room.
N.C. A&T found its stride coming out of the break. The Aggies made their first seven field goal attempts, which included three hits from beyond the arc by guard Bryson Ogletree. The hot start developed into a 24-7 avalanche from N.C. A&T to open the second half as it claimed an 11-point lead.
Ogletree and forward Nikolaos Chitikoudis carried the Aggies during the stretch. Ogletree was lethal from the three-point line, nailing three three-pointers and a pair of free throws, while Chitikoudis dominated inside, scoring 10 points in the paint. Their joint effort led N.C. A&T to a 57-46 lead with 12:23 left.
Although the tides had turned, the Seawolves fought back. Stony Brook kept it close as guard C.J. Luster II heated up following the Aggies’ controlling run, notching three-straight makes from the charity stripe to cut the deficit to three.
N.C. A&T guard Camian Shell scored two quick layups to balloon the N.C. A&T lead back to seven with 2:29 left to play before the Seawolves went on the attack. A three-point miss from Ogletree opened the door for guard Jared Frey to grab the rebound, starting the fastbreak. Looking to get up the court quickly, Frey quickly passed to O’Connor, who then found forward Andre Snoddy on the cut. As Snoddy caught the pass, he was fouled, sending him to the free throw line where he nailed both of his shots, cutting the deficit to five.
On the ensuing play, Lamothe was stripped by O’Connor as he went up for a mid-range shot. O’Connor grabbed the ball and started towards the other end. Before he could get to half court, Lamothe swiped at his hand, leading to a foul that sent O’Connor to the foul line. O’Connor hit both clutch free throws to inch Stony Brook closer, making it a 72-69 contest with 1:53 left.
On the inbound from the Aggies, the Seawolves played stout defense, forcing another takeaway. This time, Snoddy was able to pry the ball away from Shell and dish the ball out to Frey behind the three-point line. Frey took a shot but was unable to hit, and Lamothe grabbed the rebound. He gave the ball to Shell, who took the ball up and turned it over again, failing to connect on a bounce pass that was intercepted by forward Ben Wight. To slow things down, Stony Brook called a timeout with 1:09 left in regulation.
After the short break, Frey inbounded to O’Connor, who went to the top of the key. He sent the ball left to Snoddy, who found space between his defender and nailed a three-pointer to tie the game with 52 seconds left.
N.C. A&T took time on its next possession, burning almost 20 seconds before calling a timeout. With 23 seconds left, Lamothe drove from the corner and was fouled. However, he missed the free throw, giving the Seawolves a chance to take the lead.
With the shot clock off, O’Connor held the ball from far out. With seven seconds left, he pulled up and took a contested three-point shot that banked off the rim and into the hands of Shell. With just 2.6 seconds left, Shell tossed a long pass to Ogletree, who was alone across the court. Ogletree went up for a layup and was fouled by O’Connor with 0.6 seconds left in the game.
Ogletree hit the first free throw, putting N.C. A&T up by a point. He purposely missed the second, and although Snoddy grabbed the rebound, the clock had already expired, giving the Aggies the victory.
Stony Brook cooled down in the second half and ended with a up-and-down .377/.429/.909 shooting split with eight turnovers. N.C. A&T had the opposite, posting a .448/.304/.700 clip and matching the Seawolves’ turnover count.
Head coach Geno Ford did not speak to the media after the game.
Despite not scoring in the first half, Luster II led Stony Brook with 23 points on 6-of-13 shooting, hitting 4-of-9 shots from three and all seven free throw attempts. Snoddy was the only other double digit scorer for the Seawolves, posting 14 points along with a team-leading 13 rebounds, three blocks, and two steals.
Lamothe headlined the boxscore for the Aggies, matching Luster II’s 23 points. Ogletree played a big role in the effort, putting up 19, while Shell chipped in 15 and Chitikoudis posted 14.
Stony Brook will be back in action on Monday when it takes on the Hampton Pirates in a makeup game after the teams’ matchup this past Thursday was canceled due to inclement weather. The Pirates are 15-13 on the season with a 7-8 record in CAA play. They are coming off a convincing 83-70 victory over the University of North Carolina Wilmington on Saturday afternoon. Opening tipoff is scheduled for noon.
