On Friday night the Stony Brook Seawolves defeated the Maine Black Bears 73-65 in overtime to advance to the quarterfinals of the America East Tournament.
The Seawolves were able to overcome a monster game from sophomore Mark Socoby, who put up 30 points for the Black Bears. Stony Brook had four players score in double figures, as Ricky Lucas led the way with 18 points and six rebounds.
In true Stony Brook fashion the Seawolves found themselves fighting back through a double digit second half deficit. Stony Brook was able to claw back by holding Maine scoreless for much of the final nine minutes of the game. The only basket for Maine in this time was a gut wrenching 3-pointer from the top of the key by Socoby with 4.2 seconds left to force overtime. The Seawolves didn’t allow this demoralizing basket affect them in overtime as they went 8-8 from the free throw line and outscored Maine 16-8 in the extra session.
Along with Lucas, Demetrius Young (15 points, 10 rebounds) and junior Nick Carter (16 points) had large contributions as the Seawolves fought to extend their season and possibly make a miracle run to the America East Championship. With this win Stony Brook advanced to the quarterfinals, where they faced America East regular season champion UMBC.
On Saturday, Mar. 8, the Seawolves lost 76-60 to the UMBC Retrievers in the quarterfinals of the America East Tournament. With this loss Stony Brook finished the season with a 7-23 record.
In a David vs. Goliath match-up the Seawolves were able to jump out to an early 5-0 lead. But after trading baskets the Retrievers went on an 18-2 tear, building its lead up to 21-10 barely seven and a half minutes into the game. Sophomore Rio Pitt scored six straight points to cut the deficit to seven, but UMBC answered and finished the half up 15 at 44-29.
In the second half Stony Brook struggled to find the big defensive stop, as the Retrievers were able to sustain a double digit lead throughout the half. Seniors Ricky Lucas and Emanuel Neto did all they could in their final collegiate game, as Lucas had team highs in scoring (18 points) and rebounds (eight) while Neto shot 5-10 from the field and had 13 points of his own.
The difference in the game was each team’s ability to shoot the ball. While UMBC thrived, shooting 56.6 percent from the field and 52.4 percent from 3-point range, Stony Brook struggled, hitting only 35.4 percent from the field. For UMBC, forward Darryl Proctor led the way, scoring 17 points and bringing down 11 rebounds. Guard Jay Greene contributed to the winning effort with nine points and 12 assists. The early woes of Stony Brook was their Achilles heel, as they held even with the Retrievers in the second half, only being outscored 32-31.
The inability to score consistently was what plagued this team all season, as they relied heavily on their defensive prowess and hustle. After struggling through a tough ten game losing streak earlier in the season, the Seawolves had built up some momentum heading into the conference tournament. But having only one consistent scorer makes it difficult for a team to make a run, as basically everyone in the arena is clueless as to where points are coming from on any given night.
With this win UMBC advanced to face Vermont Sunday afternoon in the conference semifinal. The Seawolves will say goodbye to outgoing seniors Mitchell Beauford, along with the before mentioned Neto and Lucas. While the results show this season to be a disappointment the future for this program seems to be headed up, as the consistent defensive effort and unwillingness to mail it in late in the season showed the resilience of the players along with Coach Steve Pikiell.
