Stony Brook survived Binghamton on Saturday afternoon to advance to the America East semifinals. Here’s everything you need to know about today’s matchup:
Who: No.1 Stony Brook vs. No.4 Albany
When/Where: 5 p.m., Sunday, March 4 at Chase Family Arena on the campus of the University of Hartford
Watch/Listen: ESPN3.com/WUSB 90.1 FM
Last Time Out:
Stony Brook barely scraped past No. 9 Binghamton in the quarterfinals, winning 78-69. Binghamton tied the game up in the second half, but a huge Seawolves run put the game out of reach. Tommy Brenton led the Seawolves with 14 points, 11 rebounds, five steals and three assists.
Albany cruised in its quarterfinal game, knocking off No. 5 New Hampshire, 63-45. Geraldo Suero was the lead performer for the Great Danes, scoring 24 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
Game Notes:
-Stony Brook defeated Albany in both regular season meetings, winning the home leg 81-68 and the away 76-69.
-Senior Bryan Dougher is 17 points away from breaking Stony Brook’s Division-I scoring record.
-Brenton’s five steals in Saturday’s quarterfinal were a championship tournament record
-Stony Brook has never lost against Albany in the championship playoffs, winning twice
-The Seawolves are 22-9 all-time when Tommy Brenton scores in the double digits.
Key Players:
Stony Brook — Tommy Brenton (8.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 3.3 apg), Bryan Dougher (13.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
Albany — Geraldo Suero (21.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg), Logan Aronhalt (13.8 ppg), Mike Black (13.5 ppg)
Keys to the Game:
1) Stop Suero: The Albany junior has been a dominant scorer all year, and some felt he had an argument for the player of the year award that went to Boston’s Darryl Partin. He’s efficient, with the seventh-best field goal percentage in the conference. And he’s in the top ten in the America East in a bunch of other categories: rebounding, assists, steals and free throw shooting.
2) Get Dougher Going Dougher was cold in the quarterfinal, going just 1-for-5 from three. It’s been something of a trend of late, but getting him to shoot the way that everyone has seen him shoot could be very important in keeping up with Albany should the Seawolves fail at holding them back.
3) Stop Suero: Not a typo — it just can’t be emphasized enough. Stony Brook isn’t an incredibly consistent scoring offense, and to get in a shootout with Albany — which is almost inevitable — could be very dangerous for the Seawolves.
