Stony Brook men’s basketball lost its second game in its first three matches of the regular season, falling to the Sacred Heart University Pioneers 74-63 in Fairfield, Conn.

“We didn’t play our best basketball tonight,” said head coach Steve Pikiell, according to Stony Brook Athletics’ website. “Give credit to Sacred Heart, they’re a good team that hustled for every rebound tonight, and that gave them the extra chances and made our defense work harder on every possession.”

The Seawolves were outplayed in all other important facets of the game, which in the end was what led Sacred Heart to victory.

Sacred Heart outshot Stony Brook 49-42 percent from the field and outrebounded the Seawolves 39-28.

The first half proved to be catostrophic for the Seawolves.  They only shot 34 percent from the field, making only 10 shots, and also committed nine turnovers.

There was, however, a small moment where Stony Brook had a ray of hope.

After falling behind six to two, the Seawolves scored eight straight points.

However, Sacred Heart would quickly stomp down on that hope, hitting two consecutive three-point shots to acquire a 12-10 point advantage.

The Seawolves would not be kept down, however.

They kept essentially even with Sacred Heart, and junior Leonard Hayes pushed his team ahead 20-19.

But, from Stony Brook’s perspective, it all went downhill from there.

The Pioneers concluded the half with a 15 to five point run. The halftime score stood with Sacred Heart leading Stony Brook 34-25.

The second half opened with an immense spark from the Seawolves, who opened play with a 17 to eight point run.  In the midst of this sequence, sophomore Dave Coley and junior Marcus Rouse each put together a three-point-play, scoring a basket and drawing the foul so that they could make the extra free throw.

With 13:46 remaining, Stony Brook trailed Sacred Heart 44-42.But that was as far as Sacred Heart would allow Stony Brook to go.

The Seawolves managed to inch behind them until the score stood at 48-45.

Then the Pioneers put the game out of reach by going on a nine-point-run over six minutes, putting it ahead 57-45.

Stony Brook managed only three shots during that time and missed all three.

It also committed three turnovers.

Sacred Heart would go on to coast to a 74-63 victory.

The Seawolves will next play at home, taking on Columbia University on Tuesday at 7 p.m. It is the first of five games before Stony Brook goes to the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival.