The Stony Brook men’s basketball team was unable to maintain the lead it controlled against UConn for the majority of Tuesday’s game, the first of the PK80 Invitational. The Seawolves held a nine-point lead with 5:37 remaining in the game, and lost their second straight game by a final score of 72-64 at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
After senior forward Tyrell Sturdivant hit a three-pointer with under six minutes to go, UConn called a timeout to regroup. The timeout seemed to revitalize the Huskies, who finished the game on a 14-0 run over the final five minutes of the game. Seven of the Huskies’ junior guard Jalen Adams’ 19 points were scored during the run in the guard’s debut game of the season.
“I thought that for the first 34:30 we did a great job of guarding the ball and one of our keys coming in was to make them execute in the half court,” head coach Jeff Boals said in a press release. “We did a great job containing those guys for the first 34-and-a-half minutes, but they really stepped up in crunch time and made plays. We’ll learn from this one, I love our guys’ competitiveness.”
Stony Brook led UConn 31-25 at halftime, before the Huskies erupted for 47 points in the second half, shooting 71 percent from the field. Four Huskies scored in the double figures, including a game-high 19 points from Adams. He also added five rebounds and recorded three steals.
The Seawolves used a 9-2 run early on in the first half to take an 11-7 lead over the Huskies. While the first half was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams trading baskets, the Seawolves maintained a several-point lead.
The team played the first half of the game the same way it played in the first half against Maryland. Stony Brook was able to hold UConn to 35 percent shooting from the field and just 20 percent from deep.
The lead in the first half was held intact with the help of senior guard Bryan Sekunda. His three three-pointers in the first half came just as UConn began to regain momentum and cut deeper in the Stony Brook lead.
Sturdivant put in two three-pointers, leading the Seawolves with 11 points. He now has made five three-point field goals this season, after attempting just one shot from beyond the arc in his previous three years with the team. He leads the team in scoring in the early stages of the season, averaging 14 points to couple 3.5 rebounds per game.
The Seawolves will continue to seek their first win of the season when they take on Ball State on Friday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m.
