The Seawolves suffered a 58-54 loss to the Wagner Seahawks in a hard-fought game on Sunday, snapping a 10-game Pritchard Gymnasium winning streak. Stony Brook was held to just 15 field goals in the game and shot just 23.8 percent from the field.
“You have to make shots to win basketball games, and we didn’t do that tonight,” head coach Steve Pikiell said. “We’ve been making big shots down the stretch the last few games that helped us win, but we didn’t make them tonight. However, it is comforting to know that we shot so poorly and still had a chance to win the game.”
Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) led with 15 points. Danny Carter (London, UK) had his first career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Dallis Joyner (Norfolk, Va.) chipped in with a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Seawolves went into halftime with a one-point lead at 29-28 after a very sloppy first half filled with turnovers and fouls from both teams. Both teams committed 11 turnovers each. The Seahawks came into this game leading the country in fouls, and they totaled 13 in the first half compared to 10 by Stony Brook.
At the start of the second half, Wagner went on an 11-4 run to take a 40-32 lead. Stony Brook battled back and cut the lead to two after back-to-back layups from Al Rapier (Chicago, Ill.) and Carter, but Latif Rivers hit a three-pointer to stop the run.
Rapier hit another layup to close the gap to 43-40 with 11:11 left, but that would be the last field goal the Seawolves made for almost nine minutes. They would rely on free throws to cut into the lead as Wagner committed a lot of fouls.
Joyner ended the basketless streak and brought the crowd to its feet with a dunk at 2:58 to give Stony Brook the lead at 48-47. Two possessions later, Tyler Murray got open for a three-pointer to silence the crowd and give the Seahawks the lead for good. They eventually went up by six until Dougher hit a three-pointer to make it a one-possession game.
It looked like the Seawolves would be able to complete the comeback after an exciting sequence in which Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) stole the in-bounds pass from the Seahawks and found Dougher for an open three, but it rimmed out. Joyner grabbed the offensive rebound and found Dougher open again, but he just couldn’t find the bottom of the net.
The Seahawks would make their free throws on their way to victory. Murray led the team with a game-high 21 points. They shot 39.5 percent from the field but were nearly perfect from the foul line, hitting 18 of 19 from the charity stripe. Wagner finished the game with 21 turnovers.
The Seawolves shot 20-for-28 from the free throw line, with seven of those misses coming in the second half.
They out-rebounded Wagner 49-30, including 28 offensive rebounds, and converted them for 20 second-chance points.
After playing five games in 10 days, the Seawolves get a much-needed break for the Thanksgiving holiday. They will return to action on Wednesday Dec. 1 at home against Lehigh. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
