Jan. 24, 2008

Box Score

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - Senior Ricky Lucas (Herndon, Va.) poured in a career-high 31 points and junior Demetrius Young (Sacramento, Calif.) added a career-high 16 points and 12 rebounds but it wasn't enough as the Stony Brook University men's basketball team came up just short in a heartbreaking 83-81 loss to the Hartford Hawks on Thursday night at Chase Arena. The Seawolves fall to 4-15 overall and 1-6 in the America East while the Hawks improve to 10-11 and 4-2.

"We really battled tonight and offensively we played as well as we have all season," Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said. "We just needed to make a couple more plays down the stretch."

The Seawolves trailed by as many as 12 in the second half and by five with just over two minutes remaining. But Lucas hit two free throws with 1:29 to go to slice the lead to three and senior Mitchell Beauford (Queens, N.Y.) then cut the deficit to two at 83-81 with 40 seconds left after Hartford's Michael Turner had hit one of two free throws.

The Hawks ran the shot clock all the way down on the ensuing possession, settling for a short jumper from Joe Zeglinski with just over 10 seconds to go that just missed. Lucas gathered the rebound and brought it into the frontcourt and was bumped off the ball just in front of the three-point line with seconds remaining, leading to a wild scramble for the loose ball that Stony Brook was unable to collect as time expired.

Lucas was brilliant on the offensive end for the Seawolves, going eight of 11 from the field which included five three-pointers and a 10-for-10 performance from the free-throw line. Young hit his first seven shots from the field on the way to his 16 points for Stony Brook which shot 50.9 percent from the field and set a season-high in points.

Stony Brook was on the mark offensively right from the start, hitting on nine of its first 11 shots to take a 20-17 lead midway through the opening half. But Hartford then began to heat up from three, connecting on three straight from long distance to take a 26-20 advantage.

The lead swelled to 10 just minutes later on a lay-up from Jaret Von Rosenberg and the Hawks held on to almost all of the lead, heading into the half with a 44-35 advantage. The Hawks went eight of 16 from long distance in the opening half and finished the game with 12. Michael Turner scored a team-high 17 points for the Hawks who put four players in double-figures.

Stony Brook returns to action on Wednesday, hosting New Hampshire at 7 p.m.