The Stony Brook University men’s basketball team defeated the Colgate University Raiders, 63-54, on Wednesday in the last non-conference game before America East play starts on Jan. 2 for the Seawolves (5-6).
“I liked our total effort,” head coach Steve Pikiell said. “Everyone chipped in. It’s a good win. I think it helps us roll into league play.”
The Raiders are still in search of their first win of the season. They are now 0-11, and many of their loses have been heart-breakers.
“They’ve been in every game,” said Pikiell. “They’ve been right there. They’ve got some good players.”
However, the Seawolves would feel no desire to show mercy, not as long as they were Colgate’s opponent. As Pikiell implied, nine of the ten players that took the court scored for the Seawolves, leaving the Raiders no weak points to take advantage of.
This is something that junior Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) said that the team is working on. “This year we have to find a better balance in the scoring.”
The game did not start off well for the Seawolves, however. After taking an initial 8-4 lead, Colgate struck back and held the lead essentially for the first ten minutes of the game.
But it was at this point that Stony Brook came alive under the basket. After ten minutes of being dominated in the paint, the Seawolves started to sieze crucial offenisve rebounds that would result in much needed points. Stony Brook would have 13 in this category overall.
Pikiell said afterwards that he wants his team to be stronger closer to the basket. “We have to make that adjustment as a team. We got some inside guys, so I don’t want to be a jump-shot happy team.”
No Seawolves fan would want that to be the case either on a night when the jump shots generally weren’t falling; Stony Brook made only three of their 15 three-point shots that evening. The halftime score was 28-27 in favor of the Seawolves, so low-percentage shots weren’t a luxury they could afford to take.
Therefore, in the second half, the big men went to town.
“I knew I had to get in there and get a few [rebounds],” junior Dallis Joyner (Norfolk, Va.) said. “Whatever it takes that night.”
The Seawolves had a couple of problems that they had to contend with, however, in the second half, erratic free throw shooting and turnovers.
Stony Brook was only 12 for 23 from the free throw line all game.
“We’re better free throw shooters than that,” said Pikiell. “We’ve got to do a better job than that.”
Stony Brook also committed eight turnovers by game’s end. Some of these turnovers lead to points for the Raiders.
However, in the end, the Seawolves were too much for Colgate. Their building ferocity under the basket and just about everywhere else on the court overwhelmed the Raiders. Dougher led the squad with 15 points while freshman Dave Coley (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had the team-lead in rebounds with seven.
Coley was named the SimplexGrinnel Stony Brook athlete of the week this past week, and Pikiell had some hopeful words for him after the game.
“Dave led us in rebounding. He’s got a long way to go, but I’m excited about where he’s going to be in the future.”
The near future for the Seawolves lies in Maryland. Their next game, which is their first conference game of the season, will be at UMBC at 5 p.m. Any awesome Seawolves fans should remember to buy their gas in New Jersey because it’s cheapest there along the way.
