Jan. 30, 2004
Stony Brook, N.Y. -
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The Stony Brook Seawolves will battle America East rival Maine in an America East men's basketball matchup on Saturday afternoon. The Seawolves (6-12, 3-6) will look to avenge an early season loss to the Black Bears (11-7, 5-4) as they hope to move up in the standings. Tip-off is 2 p.m.
Media: Radio: WLIE 540 AM
About Maine: The Black Bears enter the game coming off a narrow home loss to Northeastern on Wednesday night. Maine can be explosive offensively as sophomore guard Kevin Reed is one of the most prolific three-point shooters in the conference. Forward Mark Flavin has been outstanding of late and is coming off an 18-point effort against Northeastern.
About the Seawolves: Stony Brook enters Saturday's action having lost four of its last five games after a Wednesday night loss to Boston University. One of the big factors in the losses has been turnovers. The Seawolves committed a season-high 22 turnovers against BU.
Maine Vs. Stony Brook: Maine leads the series 5-3 after a 46-41 win over SB earlier this season. The two teams split the season series last year with both squads defending their home court.
A look at the Division I matchups:
1/4/04 at Maine 46, Stony Brook 41
2/23/03 at Maine 74, Stony Brook 56
1/25/03 at Stony Brook 81, Maine 79
2/10/02 Stony Brook 57, at Maine 53
1/6/02 at Stony Brook 68, Maine 65
12/30/00 Maine 67, at Stony Brook 55
Earlier This Season: Maine and Stony Brook begin the second half of the conference season Saturday afternoon. Both teams have played nine games so far and met earlier this season in Orono, Maine. The Black Bears eked out a hard fought defensive battle to earn a 46-41 win. Both teams combined to score only 11 field goals in the second half with SB only scoring four in the final 20 minutes. Eric Dobson and Mark Flavin each scored 12 points to lead Maine. Mike Konopka led SB with 12.
Spencer For Hire: Junior Cori Spencer had a game-high 19 points and six rebounds in the loss to BU. Spencer has been solid since conference play began, leading the team with 15.2 and 5.4 rebounds per game. He is also shooting over 54 percent from the field in those games to go along with a .763 free throw shooting percentage.
Exclusive Company: D.J. Munir scored 14 points against BU to give him 1,411 career points. In doing so, he became the sixth player in school history to score at least 1,400 points. Currently No. 6 on the SB all-time scoring list, Munir is chasing down Wayne Wright, who scored 1,477 points from 1975-79.
An Eye Popping Effort: Freshman Mike Popoko was named the America East Rookie of the Week on Monday after averaging 13.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in two outings last week. On Wednesday, Popoko recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and 11 boards in an overtime win over Albany. On Sunday, Pop scored a team-high 14 points at Binghamton. It was the third time that SB has earned the award this year, Mitchell Beauford was recognized twice earlier this season.
Second Half "D": The Seawolves have struggled to keep their opponents from scoring in the second half since conference play began. In nine conference games, Seawolves opponents have shot 48.1 (102-212) in the second half. BU shot 52 percent in the second half of Wednesday's win.
Popoko Goes For The Record: Pop enters the Maine game with 91 rebounds on the season and needs only seven more to set a new freshman Division I single-season mark at SB. Jairus McCollum pulled down 97 rebounds as a freshman during the 2000-01 season.
Need A Better Long Distance Plan: Stony Brook ranks second to last in 3-point field goals made per game. The Seawolves hit 4.4 threes per game, better than only UMBC who is averaging 3.83 per game. In looking just at conference play, SB ranks last at 3.2 threes per game.
