The Stony Brook men’s basketball team stayed on top of the America East standings with a 54-44 win over the host Hartford Hawks Wednesday night.
The Seawolves are on their longest win streak of the season and have won nine of the last 11 games. Stony Brook improved to 15-7, 8-2 in the America East.
Junior Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) has been the hot hand for Stony Brook of late.
Martin put 16 points on the board, matching his total against Boston University on Saturday and scoring in the double digits for the fourth time in five games.
Martin was tied with Stony Brook senior guard Muhammad El-Amin (Lansing, Mich.) as high scorers for the game.
Sophomore guard Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.), who lit up the Hawks in the teams’ last meeting, was again held to single digits for the Seawolves, his only points coming on two three-pointers.
Morgan Sabia led the Hawks with 12 points and added four rebounds.
The Seawolves kept Hartford from getting many free points from the line, although Hartford failed to convert when the Hawks were sent to the charity stripe.
Hartford made just four of 13 free throws in the game.
Stony Brook’s defense was solid yet again, holding Hartford to 35% shooting from the field.
Just as they did when they met the Hawks in early January, the Seawolves kept a tight perimeter, allowing the Hawks to shoot only 16% from three-point range (4-for-25).
Hartford’s Joe Zeglinski, whose 3.5 three-pointers per game is ranked third in the country and who is the Hawks’ all-time leading three-point shooter, was held to 7 points, including just one field goal from three-point land.
Stony Brook out-rebounded Hartford by one, 36-35. Sophomore Tommy Brenton (Columbia, Md.) led all rebounders with eight boards.
The Seawolves now have a week off before hosting the Maine Black Bears (14-7, 6-2) on February 10. Stony Brook is 9-1 in the historic and intimate confines of Pritchard Gymnasium this season, including last weekend’s blasting of Boston. That game was sold out.
The last time, the Black Bears beat Stony Brook, 67-61, in one of SBU’s 2 conference losses this season. Maine is right behind Stony Brook in the AEC.
