Nov. 17, 2006

Final Stats

The Stony Brook University men's basketball team used a terrific team effort to tame the Penn State Nittany Lions, 59-51, in State College, Pa. on Friday evening. Ricky Lucas netted 22 points while Mitchell Beauford added 21 to pace the Seawolves. With the win, Stony Brook improves to 2-1 on the season while Penn State drops to 2-1.

"Tonight we had a terrific team effort and our defense was able to contain a very good Penn State team," said head coach Steve Pikiell. "We were able to make foul shots down the stretch to win the game this evening."

The story of the game was Stony Brook's defense, which forced the Nittany Lions into 21 turnovers and turned them into 23 points. Penn State was just 5-26 (19%) from downtown in the game and shot 35% from the field overall in the contest.

With 4:06 left in the first half, the Nittany Lions led by five after a Brandon Hassell tip-in before the Seawolves closed out the half on a 10-3 run. Lucas and Beauford each had four points in the stretch to give the Seawolves a 30-27 heading into the locker room. Lucas paved the way in the first half with 13 points as the Seawolves shot 52% from the floor in the first stanza.

The Seawolves wasted no time extending their lead in the second half as they went up by eight just 2:08 into the second half after Beauford buried a pair of free throws. Maintaining the lead throughout the half, the Nittany Lions chipped away until they were able to knot the game at 45-45 with 5:31 left in the game off a Danny Morrissey trifecta. Freshman Eddie Castellanos responded by hitting a jumper in the lane on the next possession only to have Penn State tie the game after Ben Luber hit a pair from the charity stripe. That would be the last time the game was tied as Beauford and Lucas controlled the final 3:05, scoring the Seawolves last 12 points. Lucas went 4 of 6 from the line and hit a big jumper to extend the lead to four with 1:55 left.

Emanuel Neto was a force in the post all-game for Stony Brook as he finished the game with seven points, seven rebounds, and four blocks. To go along with his 22 points, Lucas added eight boards and four steals.

Danny Morrissey was the only Nittany Lion in double figures, as he finished with 12 points off four three-pointers.

The Seawolves take on Navy on Sunday, November 19 at 2:00 in their first home game of the 2006-07 campaign.