Men's Basketball Shuts Down UMBC, 56-39

Feb. 3, 2007

Baltimore, Md. - The Stony Brook University men's basketball team shut-down UMBC en route to a 56-39 victory in America East action on Saturday night. Ricky Lucas paced the Seawolves with 21 points, 17 of which came in the second half as the Seawolves doubled their total win output from a season ago. Stony Brook picked up its first conference road victory since February 12, 2005 when Stony Brook defeated Hartford in Connecticut, 74-60. With the win, Stony Brook improves to 8-15, 3-8 in conference play while the Retrievers fall to 9-15, 5-6

"I am very proud of our guys tonight," said head coach Steve Pikiell. "We had a tough week with two road trips but we came in prepared for tonight's game and our defense was able to contain a good basketball team."

The Seawolves opened up the game on an 11-2 run and never looked back as they went on to the 56-39 victory. Mitchell Beauford scored six points in the opening run to pace Stony Brook in the first stanza. The Seawolves clamped down on defense in the first half, holding UMBC to just 13 points on 6-of-20 shooting.

Up 24-13 at the half, the Seawolves used a 14-6 run to open up the half to put the game away. SB would go on to lead by as many as 25 in the game for their third conference victory of the season. The win eclipses the total conference win output from last season as well.

Lucas was tabbed the America East Player of the Game with a game-high 21 points and eight rebounds in the contest. Beauford finished with 12 points, five rebounds, and three steals and Mike Popoko added nine points and eight rebounds. The Seawolves dominated the paint, holding a 32-8 advantage and got out and ran in the game, scoring 16 points in transition, compared to none for UMBC.

Brian Hodges was the AE Player of the Game for UMBC as he tallied 14 points off the bench for the Retrievers and was the lone UMBC player in double figures.

The Seawolves return to action when they host Hartford in a key-conference matchup on Sunday, February 11. Tip-off is slated for 2:00 p.m.

Print Friendly Version