Senior Muhammad El-Amin (Lansing, Mich.) scored a career-high 31 points to lead Stony Brook’s men’s basketball team to a 81-61 win over the Binghamton Bearcats on Saturday night.
It is the seventh straight win for the Seawolves, who now move to 18-7 overall and a conference-best 10-2 record in the America East.
“What a terrific win for our team, we really played together and our defense was outstanding all night,” said head coach Steve Pikiell. “Our guys really fed off the energy of the crowd early and Muhammad really gave us a great lift.”
Saturday’s victory gives Stony Brook a win over every team in the America East, something they haven’t done since joining the conference in 2001-02.
The win also set a school record for wins since moving to Division 1 in 1999.
El-Amin scored 19 of his 31 points in the first half and finished the game shooting 53 percent from the field and a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Sophomore Tommy Brenton (Columbia, Md.) recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Binghamton, now 11-16 overall and 6-6 in the America East, trailed by double digits for most of the game.
Greer Wright led the team with 28 points. Coming into the game second in the conference in field goal percentage, the Bearcats were held to 34 percent from the field.
The Seawolves jumped out to an early 10-point lead on back-to-back three pointers from freshman Marcus Rouse (Upper Marlboro, Md.). They then traded baskets with the Bearcats to make it 19-9, and from there they never looked back.
El-Amin and sophomore Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) hit back-to-back three pointers to push the lead to 14 with just under 10 minutes left in the half.
The Bearcats were able to dwindle the lead to 10 on a Moussa Camara three with four minutes left, but Stony Brook answered with 10-4 run to close out the half with a 47-33 lead.
Binghamton was able cut the lead to 56-46 early in the second half. But a deep three pointer from El-Amin sparked a 14-0 run to push the lead to 24 with under 10 minutes to go.
The lead eventually grew to 25 on a put back from sophomore Danny Carter (London, England) with eight minutes left.
The Seawolves played stellar defense and the Bearcats got no closer than 18 throughout the rest of the game.
The starters were able to leave to a standing ovation from the sold out crowd in the Pritchard Gymnasium as Stony Brook defeated Binghamton for the first time since 2006-07.
Stony Brook shot 50.9 percent from the field, eclipsing the 80-point mark for the fifth time this season.
This is the fourth straight double-digit victory for the Seawolves, who lead the conference in scoring margin.
The team will travel to Maryland for a matchup against the UMBC Retrievers on Tuesday night. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.