On Wednesday, Jan. 30th, Stony Brook’s men’s basketball team hosted the University of New Hampshire. The Seawolves put up a good fight, but ultimately the Wildcats won the important conference match-up.

In front of a packed and excited crowd, emotion ran high for the Seawolves, as Stony Brook took an early 9-0 lead that held for the majority of the first half. Freshman Jermol Paul and Demetrius Young, pushed the Seawolves to a 17-10 lead with 10 minutes remaining. However, the lead slipped away and the Wildcats were able to take the advantage with six minutes left in the first half, a lead they never relinquished.

The score after the first half was 32-27 with New Hampshire surging. Both teams played fairly even on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, the only difference was rebounding. ‘Their offensive rebounding killed us’, said Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell. In the first half, the Wildcats were able to pull down ten offensive rebounds, while Stony Brook only grabbed eight defensive rebounds.

In the second half, New Hampshire built their lead up to 14. But Stony Brook’s crowd rallied their team, and the Seawolves were able to pull within two points with less than two minutes remaining in the game. Stony Brook couldn’t finish the rally, and ultimately lost by a score of 68-60. Disappointed with the loss, coach Pikiell had this to say about his team’s performance, ‘we played poorly defensively at times, and we didn’t make the lay-ups we should have made.’

New Hampshire was carried by senior Mike Christensen. The forward scored 25 points off shooting 8-11 from the field, including 3-6 from behind the three-point arc. ‘I’ve seen him several times now and he always impressed me. He’s tough to guard because he’s a big guy that can shoot the three’, said coach Pikiell about Christensen’s performance.

Stony Brook’s notable players were senior Ricky Lucas, who led the team in scoring with 22 points and freshman Jermol Paul, who had nine points and led the team with five rebounds.