The shots kept coming, but they rarely found their way into the basket. The Stony Brook men’s basketball team launched 22 shots from three, but only knocked down two en route to a 57-49 loss on the road against the UMBC Golden Retrievers on Wednesday, Jan. 30.
The Seawolves barely managed to outshoot the Retrievers in the first half, yet still found themselves in a six-point deficit. The Retrievers only shot 31 percent from the floor but shot equally as good from beyond the arc as they did inside. The Seawolves also allowed the Retrievers to collect 10 offensive rebounds in the half which kept their possessions alive and created chances to kick the ball back out.
UMBC came out of the gates strong in the second half by leading off with an 11-4 run that gave them a game-high 13 point lead. Redshirt-junior forward Akwasi Yeboah hit Stony Brook’s first three of the game to break the run and a pair of steals cut the deficit to single digits again. However, the Seawolves were unable to string together enough stops to bridge the gap despite the late scoring run.
“I thought we were getting some good looks in the second half, but we weren’t making the shots that we’ve been hitting,” head coach Jeff Boals said in a press release. “We were able to cut the lead to six but they hit a wide open three in the corner. We did not get off to a good start in the first or second halves, but I thought in the second half that we battled but just weren’t able to get over the hump.”
Stony Brook’s shooting woes on the night are no understatement. The team shot a season-low .091 from beyond the arc, over .100 points lower than any other game this season. The Seawolves’ .309 overall shooting performance is just .001 higher than the season-low .308 they shot against Vermont on Saturday, Jan. 26, a game they lost by 21. Although the defense performed capably, rebounding trouble and woeful offensive shooting plagued the Seawolves.
Stony Brook will not have much time reflecting over this loss. Sitting at 5-2 in America East play, they will head back home to take on Hartford on Saturday, Feb. 2. Hartford sits a game back behind Stony Brook and can overtake second place from them with a road victory. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
