The Stony Brook men’s basketball team (10-4, 1-0) captured its first America East Conference game of the season against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (4-10, 0-2), winning the game by a comfortable 65 to 49 margin.
It was Stony Brook’s first game at home in 35 days after having played five consecutive games on the road. The Seawolves were 3-2 on that stretch.
It was the 25th all-time meeting between the two schools. As of Saturday, Stony Brook has won the last five straight, allowing the Wildcats to only average a score of 54 points in the previous four. Those past contests were always defensive struggles with neither team breaking 70 points.
Both teams struck out of the gate and got some points on the board early. Four minutes into the game, the Wildcats led 10-8. Junior guard Anthony Jackson helped to propel Stony Brook’s early efforts with five of those eight points.
That initial spurt slowed down to a more defensively intense game. Jackson and junior guard Dave Coley picked up two early fouls. This would force the bench players to step up; they made 14 of Stony Brook’s 32 points in the opening half. This was in contrast to New Hampshire’s bench that scored none in the half. The two teams remained with close distance of one another with a tie score at 12 with 10 minutes left in the first half.
What remained a challenge for Stony Brook was making offensive rebounds to get second chance points. The Seawolves only had four of such in the first half.
That being said, the Seawolves made enough shots on their first chances to give them a 27-18 lead with four minutes in the half. Up to that point, freshman forward Jameel Warney had eight of those points. He had 18 points for the game, one short of his career high.
The two teams went into halftime with Stony Brook in charge of a 10-point lead, 32-22.
The teams exchanged baskets in the opening minutes of the second half; the Seawolves still held a 39-28 lead approximately four and a half minutes in.
Despite their best efforts to get back into the game, the Wildcats were unable to get much closer than 10 points of Stony Brook’s total for most of the second half. With a little more than eight minutes left in the game, the Seawolves still lead 48-37. It wasn’t their best scoring effort of the season, but the defense came to play. For the game, they forced 12 turnovers and blocked six shots.
Senior guards Leonard Hayes and Marcus Rouse hit back-to-back three-pointers late in the game to effectively seal the deal. Those points gave Stony Brook a 16-point lead.
The game coasted to a 65-49 conclusion in favor of the Seawolves.
Stony Brook’s next game will be on the road against Binghamton University at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 9.
