In the final game of the regular season, the Stony Brook’s men’s basketball team put on a dominating performance in front of a sold-out Pritchard Gymnasium crowd on its way to a 67-42 victory over Binghamton.
The Seawolves show a season-high 52.2 percent from the field and made 10 three-pointers for the sixth time in 10 games. They finish the season 13-16 overall and 8-8 in the America East Conference, their third straight season with a .500 or better conference record.
“This was a great game for us, we had great efforts from a lot of players,” head coach Steve Pikiell said. “The community came out and did a great job supporting us. It was a great environment.”
Dallis Joyner (Norfolk, Va.) had a season-high 16 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the field and 6-for-8 from the free throw line. He also grabbed eight rebounds and recorded two blocks. Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) added 15 points on five three-pointers, his seventh game this season with five or more triples.
Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) dished out a career-high six assists after being honored prior to the game for Senior Day.
“I had some nerves since it was my last game playing in front of the fans I love,” Martin said. “But I knew we had to get the win and we did.”
After Jimmy Gray hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 12 with 13:52 left in the first half, Stony Brook went on a 13-0 run capped by a fastbreak three-pointer by Leonard Hayes (Voorhees, N.J.). The Bearcats would not come within 10 points of the lead for the rest of the game.
Martin found Dougher for a three-pointer at 3:15 to give the Seawolves their largest lead of the half at 39-20. With six seconds to go, Preye Preboye (Springfield, Mass.) hit a layup in traffic to give Stony Brook a 42-25 halftime lead. This was the team’s largest offensive output in the first half this season.
The Seawolves came out firing in the second half, as Dougher hit a three-pointer on back-to-back possessions to open up a 21-point lead, 48-27. They would then go on a 14-5 run that was punctuated by a huge dunk from Joyner to extend the lead to 30 at 62-32 with 8:25 left.
Stony Brook’s defense really stifled the Bearcats in the second half, at one point holding them without a field goal for over eight minutes and forcing them to rely on free throws to put points on the board.
In all, the Seawolves defense held Binghamton to 29.5 percent from the field on just 13 field goals. Greer Wright led the team with 11 points and four assists. No other player scored in double figures.
The Bearcats fall to 7-22 overall and 4-12 in the America East, tying them for last in the conference.
The Seawolves forced 14 turnovers and turned them into 20 points. They also outrebounded the Bearcats, 33-27. All 13 eligible Stony Brook players played in the game, and all but one scored at least one point.
Stony Brook is now focused on the 2011 America East Tournament, held in West Hartford, Conn. from March 3-6. The Seawolves are the fifth seed and will face the fourth-seeded Albany in the quarterfinals on Saturday, March 5 at 12 p.m.
“We overcame a lot of obstacles and fought through a lot of adversity,” Pikiell said. “If there’s any team in this tournament ready for adversity, it’ll be us. We’ll be ready to play.”
The winner of the tournament receives an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, which was the players’ main goal going into the season.
“We may not have had the season we were expecting,” Dougher said. “But it only takes one good weekend in the tournament to achieve our goal of the NCAA Tournament, so that’s what we’re working for right now.”
