Four minutes and 34 seconds had ticked away in the second half of the Stony Brook Men’s Basketball team’s game against 2014 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight squad Notre Dame. Senior forward Jameel Warney tipped in a missed shot to bring the visitors within four—giving him six points early on in the second half—after a quiet first 20 minutes for the two-time defending America East Player of the Year.
Head coach Steve Pikiell’s team hung around, as the Seawolves only trailed by eight at halftime. With Warney coming out hot in the second half, all signs pointed toward another nail-biter against a national power, as Stony Brook forced No. 17 Vanderbilt to overtime in a 79-72 loss on Nov. 19. But Notre Dame went on a 40-19 run the rest of the way to win 86-61.
After Warney’s tip-in and a Fighting Irish free throw, sophomore forward V.J. Beachem made two 3-pointers to give his team breathing room, and the Seawolves were not able to close the gap again like they had in the first half.
Right out of the gate, Notre Dame came out firing, grabbing a 24-13 lead within the contest’s first eight minutes, but Stony Brook would not succumb to its Atlantic Coast Conference opponent. Senior guard Carson Puriefoy hit three key 3-pointers in the first half to keep the home team from gaining too much of an advantage, helping his team narrow the lead to one with 7:21 to play in the half.
It was Puriefoy who led the team with 17 points on the evening, with Warney just behind him tallying 16 points and eight rebounds.
Senior forward Rayshaun McGrew had an efficient game, scoring 12 points on 6-for-10 shooting to round out the double-digit scorers for the Seawolves.
It came down to Notre Dame doing everything just a little bit better than Stony Brook, showing why they were able to make a deep run in last season’s national tournament. The Fighting Irish out-rebounded the Seawolves by 19 and dished out eight more assists.
Pikiell’s squad will look to get back in the win column on Saturday when Stony Brook heads to Boston to take on Northeastern at 4 p.m..
Featured image courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics
