The Stony Brook Men’s Basketball team took a tough loss to Cornell Monday night, 76-72, bringing their season record to 1-1. The Seawolves gave up a nine point lead in the first half, going into the locker-room, and despite their best efforts in the second half, there was no recovering from the deficit.

The first half opened with an offensive run by Cornell, featuring a 13-4 streak punctuated by a three-pointer by Big Red’s Ryan Wittman, putting them above the Seawolves, 22-11 with more than twelve minutes left in the first half. Stony Brook tried to come back with a run of their own, scoring enough points to cut the Cornell lead down to 27-24. But soon, Big Red regained total control of the court, led by Wittman’s skills from behind the three point line.

The Seawolves came back for the second half, ready to cut down the 44-35 lead Cornell had posted over the first half of the game. Stony Brook chased their opponents on the scoreboard, chipping away at the lead until a three point shot by Eddie Castellanos evened up the score at 56 apiece with just over seven minutes left in the game.

Fouls and turnovers late in the second half disrupted the flow of play and handed the advantage back to Cornell, who ran with it for the rest of the game. Big Red capitalized on their foul shots, shooting 82 percent from the foul line in the second half, 77 percent over the entire game.

Powerhouses Mitchell Beauford and Ricky Lucas showed their offensive prowess despite the loss. Beauford posted 24 points on the game while Lucas backed him up with 20 points. Although Stony Brook outshot Cornell 59 to 51, the Seawolves just couldn’t connect, with a shooting percentage of only 42 percent. The late fouls also hurt them, giving up 17 points in foul shots.

The Seawolves are back in action of Friday when they travel to Penn State to take on the Lions. The team’s first home game of the season is Sunday afternoon against Navy.