Jan. 9, 2008

Box Score

STONY BROOK, N.Y. -- Brian Lillis scored 19 points to lead five Albany players in double-figures as the Great Danes built an 21-point halftime lead and then held on late for a 80-64 victory over the Stony Brook University men's basketball team on Wednesday night at Stony Brook Arena. The Seawolves fall to 4-11 overall and 1-2 in the America East with the loss while Albany improves to 7-9 and 2-1.

"We have to learn to play 40 minutes if we expect to win in conference play," Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said. "We played well in the second half but we put ourselves in too big a hole in the first half."

Senior Ricky Lucas (Herndon, Va.) led the Seawolves with 15 points, 13 of which came in the second half. Junior Demetrius Young (Sacramento, Calif.) added 10 points and senior Emanuel Neto (Luanda, Angola) tallied eight points and 13 rebounds for the Stony Brook who shot 41 percent from the field.

Stony Brook jumped out to a 10-7 lead just four minutes in highlighted by six points from Young but the Great Danes took control from there scoring the next 13 points, holding the Seawolves scoreless for over six minutes. Lucas broke the drought with a jumper but Albany responded with a 22-6 run over the final eight minutes to take its largest lead of the game at 42-18.

Junior Michael Tyree (Somerset, N.J.) hit a three just before the break to cut the lead to 42-21, the Seawolves only shot from long distance in the opening half. Albany shot 50 percent in the half including six of 10 from three.

The Seawolves came out hot in the second half, scoring nine of the first 11 points to cut the Albany lead to 12 on a three from junior Nick Carter (Huntington, N.Y.) with 16:10 remaining. A Brian Lillis lay-up pushed the Albany lead back to 14 but Neto answered with a jumper to cut the deficit back to 12. The Great Danes then took off on an 11-2 run to take a 57-36 and the Seawolves were unable to get closer than 11 the rest of the way as Albany won its second straight.

Lillis went nine for 14 from the line for the Great Danes who also got 18 from Brent Wilson as well as 11 points and nine rebounds from Jerei Hasting.

The Seawolves return to action on Tuesday, traveling to take on Binghamton at 7 p.m. The game will be televised regionally on Fox Sports New York (FSNY).