Jan. 5, 2009

Final Stats

Vestal, N.Y. - Freshman Tommy Brenton (Columbia, Md.) scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds but it wasn't enough as the Binghamton Bearcats pulled away late for a 67-60 victory over the Stony Brook University men's basketball team on Monday night at the Events Center. Stony Brook falls to 8-6 overall and 1-1 in the America East with the loss while Binghamton improves to 9-4 and 2-0.

"Binghamton is a terrific basketball team and we just didn't play well enough on the defensive end of the court to beat them tonight," Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said.

Brenton recorded his third double-double of the season for the Seawolves, who saw their three game-winning streak snapped. Junior Muhammad El-Amin (Lansing, Mich.) also chipped in 12 points for SBU. D.J. Rivera led five Bearcats in double-figures with 16 points.

Stony Brook took an early 5-3 lead on a three from freshman Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) and an El-Amin jumper but Binghamton answered with a 14-1 run to take an 11 point lead midway through the half. SBU responded though, going on an 11-2 spurt over the next four minutes to cut the Binghamton advantage to two at 19-17.

Binghamton would push its lead back to six but the Seawolves did not go away, closing its deficit to two with 1:36 left in the first half on a fast-break dunk from senior Demetrius Young.(Sacramento, Calif.). But Binghamton then sandwiched three-pointers from Emanuel Mayben and Reggie Fuller around a Young basket to head into the break up 34-28.

Young had a team-high eight points in the first half for the Seawolves, who had six different players score in the opening 20 minutes. Maybin scored a game-high 11 in the first period for Binghamton, including three from beyond the arc.

The Seawolves trailed by only four after a Young hoop just over five minutes into the second half before Rivera scored five straight Bearcat points to put Binghamton up 46-37 with 13:08 remaining in the game. But El-Amin answered with a three-point play on the other end to start a 10-3 Seawolves run that cut the Binghamton lead to one with nine minutes left. Brenton scored five points in the run including his second three-pointer of the game.

SBU was still down just three points after a jumper from sophomore Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) with 4:45 remaining before closing to within one, at 56-55, on a hoop from freshman Dallis Joyner (Norfolk, Va.) with 2:17 left. But that is as close as the Seawolves would get as Binghamton then went on an 8-0 run over the next minute and a half to put the game away.

The Seawolves return to action on Thursday, Jan. 8, hosting Maine at Pritchard Gymnasium. Game time is set for 7 p.m.