Dec. 10, 2003

Stony Brook, N.Y. -

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Stony Brook seeks its first road win of the season after a 10-day layoff when it travels to Army on Thursday night. The Seawolves enter the game looking to snap a three-game losing streak after opening the season with a win over Dartmouth. Tip-off is 7 p.m. at Christl Arena on the West Point campus.

Internet: Audio can be accessed by logging on to www.goseawolves.org.

About the Black Knights: The Black Knights dropped a pair of games over the weekend to slip to 3-4 on the season. On Friday, they lost to Albany and then fell to No. 3 UConn on Saturday. Josh Wilson leads the team in scoring (13.2 ppg) and rebounding (4.3 rpg). Sean O'Keefe is averaging 10.3 points per game.

About the Seawolves: The Seawolves have lost three straight after a season-opening win against Dartmouth. Narrow losses to Utah and St. John's sandwiched a road loss to Lehigh to drop Stony Brook to 1-3 on the year. The Seawolves combine both youth and experience in 2003-04 as the roster features a combined three freshman, three sophomores, three juniors and five seniors. Leading the Seawolves into battle will be head coach Nick Macarchuk who enters his 27th season as a Division I head coach. Macarchuk has 353 career wins and is one of 33 active Division I coaches who have at least 350 wins. He ranks 33rd on the all-time Division I winningest active coaches list.

Army vs. Stony Brook: Stony Brook owns a 3-2 series edge after a 68-59 triumph last year at the Indoor Sports Complex which snapped a two-game losing streak to the Black Knights. SB won the first two games of the series before Army claimed the next two. The Seawolves are 0-2 all-time at Christl Arena. Mike Konopka had 19 points in last year's win while Bobby Santiago chipped in with 13.

Mitch Steps Up: It hasn't taken long for heralded freshman Mitchell Beauford to make an impact at Stony Brook. He currently leads the Seawolves in scoring at an 11.5 points per game clip while shooting a lofty 46 percent from the floor. He has led the team in scoring and assists in two of the first four games and on November 24 was named the America East Rookie of the Week.

Versus The Academies: Stony Brook is 4-3 all-time versus Army and Navy.

Versus The Patriot League: Stony Brook is 4-7 all-time against Patriot League foes.

Good News And The Bad News: The good news early on this season is Stony Brook's stingy scoring defense that has allowed opponents to average only 60 points per game which ranks first in the America East. Bad news is that the Brook is scoring only 53.5 points per game which ranks 10th in the conference.

On The Road: Seawolves will play three of the next four games on the road beginning Thursday night against Army. SB is 0-1 on the road this season with a loss against Lehigh.

We Like Mike: Junior forward Mike Orfini is off to a good start in 2003-04. Coming off a 10-point, six-rebound effort against St. John's, Orfini is now averaging 7.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, far above his career averages of 5.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.

Ice Cold: Stony Brook's 1-3 start has a lot to do with its shooting. The Seawolves have managed to hit only 38 percent of their shots so far this year. D.J. Munir (27 percent) and Bobby Santiago (16 percent) have combined to hit only 16 of 67 shots so far.

Closing In On 1,200: Munir enters the game against Army with 1,174 career points which places him ninth on the school's all-time scoring list, one point behind Ricky Wardally's 1,175. He is 26 points away from becoming only the eighth player in school history to score at least 1,200 points and 53 points away from occupying the No. 7 spot on the list which is currently held by Mel Walker (1,226).

Hooray For JPK: JonPaul Kobryn turned in a solid effort against St. John's, knocking down eight points and grabbing four rebounds. Kobryn has enjoyed playing against the Red Storm during his career as he has averaged 12.6 points and 4.7 rebounds in three outings. His career averages are 7.1 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.

Backcourt Blues: The starting backcourt of D.J. Munir and Bobby Santiago are due for a breakout game. The duo has connected on only 16 of 67 shots (.239) through the first four games with Santiago mired in a 3-for-19 slump. Last year, the duo accounted for an average of 27 points per game or 41 percent of the team's scoring output. So far in 2004, Santiago and Munir have averaged 13.5 points per game, accounting for 25 percent of the team's scoring.