With win, SBU clinches share of regular season title
The Stony Brook University men’s basketball team inched one game closer to the end of its conference schedule and clinched at least a share of the America East regular season championship, its third in the last four years, with a victory against the University of Maine Black Bears, 69-53, on Sunday.
The regular season championship guarantees that Stony Brook will be at least tied for the No. 1 spot in the conference at the end of the regular season and that, should they make the final game of the America East Conference Championship tournament, will host the game.
Senior forward Tommy Brenton almost recorded his second-straight triple-double against Maine with a career-high 20 rebounds, 13 points and seven assists. It was his fifth double-double this season and 22nd in his career.
With 1,069 rebounds for his career, Brenton passed the University of Vermont’s Kevin Roberson for fourth place in America East history in that category. Also performing well was freshman forward Jameel Warney, who scored a game-high 15 points along with seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals. It’s the 10th time this season that he has scored at least 15 points.
The Seawolves grabbed the lead from fairly early on in the game and did not surrender it. From 16:18 left in the first half, Stony Brook pushed ahead and never looked back. It was able to sustain moving up to a 31-17 advantage despite starters junior guard Anthony Jackson, senior guard Dave Coley and Brenton each picking up two fouls. The lead was 10 as both teams went into halftime.
Approximately five minutes into the second half, Stony Brook broke the game open by scoring 10 points in a row, building a 23-point lead, 55-32.
Maine would get as close as within 11 points of the Seawolves, but the Black Bears faltered in the final minutes, only making one out of their final 10 shots.
Overall, Stony Brook held its opponent to 34.5 percent shooting compared to its own 41.9 percent.
Stony Brook can win the regular season title with one win in its final two games, the first of which is away at Boston University on Thursday, Feb. 28, and the second being at home against the University at Albany on Sunday, March 3. Stony Brook’s current record of 21-6 overall is the best start in Division-I program history, one win better than the 20-7 start of the 2009-10 team. For its conference record, 12-2, this year’s team matches the program’s best start with last year’s team. Two more wins would break the school record of 22 victories.
