It had been a long time since the Stony Brook men’s basketball team was behind on the scoreboard at the end of the second half — nine straight games, dating back nearly a month to Jan. 14 at Boston University.
But that losing taste was in the Seawolves’ mouths again on Sunday, as the University of Vermont Catamounts wrenched the pole position in the race for the top seed in the America East championships away from Stony Brook with a 68-49 win in Burlington.
If both Stony Brook and Vermont win their remaining games, they will finish with identical records at the top of the table, but the Catamounts will earn the top seed courtesy of the tiebreaker.
The Seawolves (17-8, 12-2 AE) failed to make a single three-point basket, going a combined 0-for-15 from beyond the arc. Senior Bryan Dougher was responsible for seven of those misses.
Senior Dallis Joyner was the only Seawolf that did not have an off night, as he went 5-for-5 from the floor, contributing 13 points.
Freshman Four McGlynn led the Catamounts (17-10, 11-2 AE) with 24 points.
It was Vermont that got off to a strong start, pulling away to an early 21-9 lead. But the Seawolves clawed their way back to within one point and went into the locker room down 23-22.
The second half was all Catamounts. Vermont went on a 13-0 run in the middle of the second to stretch the lead to 48-30 with just seven and a half minutes to go.
Stony Brook was unable to recover despite the best efforts of sophomore Dave Coley, who scored seven of his nine points in the second half.
The Seawolves shot just 33 percent from the field and an icy 58 percent from the free throw line, and the visitors made just one field goal in the final 4:30.
The loss came on the heels of Stony Brook’s ninth straight conference win, which was at home against the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, on Thursday night.
The Seawolves barely escaped with a win over the league’s second-worst team, beating the Retrievers 80-68. The score was tied about halfway through the second half when Stony Brook went on an 8-0 run to take the lead for good.
Four Seawolves scored in double digits, with sophomore Anthony Jackson leading the way with 17 points. Dougher had 16, while Joyner and Marcus Rouse had 14 each.
Stony Brook has a week off before heading to Boston to take on Northeastern at 1 p.m. on Saturday as a part of the ESPN Bracketbusters series. The game did not make the ESPN television package, but can be heard live on WUSB 90.1 FM.
