Finally.
A collective sigh of relief went out from Seawolves nation and a few overzealous students even rushed the floor as Stony Brook men’s basketball beat the Boston University Terriers for the first time in nearly two years, 66-57, Friday night at Pritchard Gymnasium.
“Our coaches have been reminding us about that streak all season,” junior Tommy Brenton, who finished with nine points, eight rebounds and four steals, said. “Coming into this game we knew, it was in our scouting report. Five in a row they had our number. So we had to play harder, play more defense, play better offense. We needed this win bad.”
The victory handed the Seawolves (13-7, 8-1 AE) sole possession of first place in the America East conference, and extending Stony Brook’s winning streak at Pritchard to 11 games, one shy of the school’s Division-I program record.
Senior Bryan Dougher led the Seawolves with 20 points, including three three-pointers.
“If he misses 10 shots, he’s going to take shot 11, 12, 13,” Pikiell said of Dougher. “He’s got a good swagger about him.”
The Terriers (11-12, 7-2 AE) have been responsible for Stony Brook exiting the conference championship tournament for the past two seasons, including a come-from-behind victory in last year’s tournament final, and haven’t lost to Stony Brook in five meetings. Boston is also the only team to have beaten the Seawolves in conference play this year, but that 61-55 loss was avenged on Friday.
From the beginning, a Seawolves win was very much in doubt. Boston guard Darryl Partin came out of the gate firing, hitting four of five from three-point range in the first half. He finished with 21 points and six rebounds. “That’s just what he does,” Pikiell said.
But the Seawolves buckled down defensively, going on a 25-9 run over most of the last 10 minutes that led to a halftime lead, 37-33.
Stony Brook carried the momentum out of the break, going on a 10-1 run. But then the offense hit a wall. Boston would be the only team to score from the field for more than 10 minutes. The Terriers regained the lead with 8:56 left in the game, and continued on a run of their own, scoring 17 unanswered points.
“They pressured us a little more at that point in the game, and we didn’t really execute well, set screens well, guys weren’t getting open,” Dougher said. “It’s happened to us a few times before, but we’re a veteran team and tonight we were able to pull out of it, and it really showed a lot about the character of our guys.”
A slam by Al Rapier gave the Seawolves a glimmer of hope with just 4:12 to go, as Stony Brook trailed, 53-52. The lead went back to the home team on a Joyner free throw with just under three minutes to play, then a Dougher three with 2:29 on the clock sent the packed house into a frenzy and cemented the Seawolves lead for good.
Strong free throw shooting down the stretch – 80 percent in the last two minutes — gave Stony Brook its 10th win in 11 games. But the Seawolves say they are prepared to press on and not ease into complacency.
“It’s still halfway through, so we’ll take it game by game and not relax and slip up in the remaining games,” Brenton said.
The Seawolves continue America East play on Wednesday when they host Binghamton at 7 p.m.
