For Stony Brook men’s basketball, there’s no place like home.
The Seawolves have yet to lose in the cozy confines of Pritchard Gymnasium this season, extending their home win streak to 10 with a 60-37 win over the Hartford Hawks on Wednesday night.
Senior Bryan Dougher’s 23 points led the Seawolves, who are winners of nine of the last 10, setting up an enormous nationally televised showdown with Boston University at home on Friday. Boston and Stony Brook are tied at the top of the conference, with identical 7-1 America East records.
No Seawolf scored in double digits besides Dougher, who did it for the 16th time this season.
“I was just kinda picking spots against their zone,” Dougher said. “Tommy (Brenton)’s the best passer in the league, and the big guys were setting some good screens, so I was able to get some good looks.”
It was Dougher that got the game started with a three-pointer just under three minutes in. The Seawolves never trailed.
“I knew we’d score,” Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said. “We always score enough points to win, as long as our defense comes to play.”
And come to play it did, limiting the Hawks to shooting 30 percent from the field in the first half. The Seawolves led by as many as 12 in the first, but a late 8-2 run brought Hartford back within six at halftime.
Dougher crushed that momentum out of the locker room with a pair of threes.
“It was important to get off to a good start offensively,” Dougher said. “We held them to 18 in the first half, which is a good number, but 24 is a little low and we had way too many turnovers.”
An 11-0 Stony Brook run in the second put the game away, as the Seawolves kept the Hawks from scoring for more than eight minutes.
Senior Dallis Joyner led the Seawolves defense, pulling down nine rebounds and blocking three shots.
The win leads to a top-of-the-table clash on Friday at 9 p.m., when the Seawolves host the Boston University Terriers in a game that will be televised on ESPNU.
“Every game is a big game,” Pikiell said. “BU is big, but we play Binghamton right after and that’s a big game too. We try to take one game at a time, and that’s why it’s nice to have veterans.”
