Dec. 3, 2011
Final Stats
Charleston, Ill. - Eastern Illinois's Jeremy Granger scored 25 points, and the Panthers took advantage of 17 free throw attempts in the second half as the Stony Brook men's basketball team lost, 72-69, Saturday afternoon at Lantz Arena. Senior Al Rapier (Chicago, Ill.) led the Seawolves with a career-high 19 points and nine rebounds.
Stony Brook finished the game shooting 41% from the field and was just 7-for-29 (24%) from three-point range. Eastern Illinois shot 44% from the field and was 6-for-13 from three. Stony Brook outrebounded EIU 39-36 and had 19 offensive rebounds that turned into 23 second chance points. The difference in the game proved to be in the free throws as the Panthers were 16-for-21 from the stripe, and the Seawolves only made it to the line five times, making four shots.
"Eastern Illinois played a very good game today, and I thought our defense struggled with their personnel," head coach Steve Pikiell said. "They have some good players that we had no answer for today. We have to get better on defense."
The first half proved to be a battle of runs. The Panthers started off on a 10-4 run that went up to 13-6 as they connected on three three-pointers early on. Stony Brook stormed back with a 20-1 run that included 11 consecutive points from senior Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.). He got the Seawolves within one, 13-12, on back-to-back three-pointers, tied the game at 14-14 with a teardrop and then put SBU on top, 17-14, with another three.
Brenton's dunk at the 4:32 mark of the first half concluded the 20-1 Seawolves run and gave the team its largest lead of the game, 12 points, at 26-14.
Eastern Illinois proceeded to end the first half on a 15-4 run, including seven points from Granger, who buried a three and a long two to make it 30-26. EIU's Joey Miller then connected on a three-pointer to end the half and make it a one-point Seawolves lead at the break, 30-29.
The second half early on was a back-and-forth affair as both offenses hit their shots. There were seven ties in the half's first eight minutes, the final one coming at the 12:07 mark. Sophomore Anthony Jackson (Columbus, Ohio) drilled a three-pointer to give the Seawolves their final lead of the game, 49-48, and then EIU's Alfonzo McKinnie hit a free throw to tie it at 49-49.
From there, the Seawolves missed their next six shots while EIU went on a 9-0 run. Zavier Sanders hit a pair of mid-range jumpers after the Stony Brook defense collapsed on Granger to put the Panthers up 53-49. Miller followed with a pair of free throws, and Granger capped the run with a putback off his own miss. The Panthers led 57-49 with 7:16 left in the game.
The Seawolves closed the gap to two with some great inside work from senior Dallis Joyner (Norfolk, Va.), who had a dunk and a nice hook shot to make it 61-59, EIU, with 3:26 to play. With Stony Brook seemingly having the momentum, EIU's L.C. Doss put the dagger in the Seawolves with a long three-pointer at 3:07 to stop the run and put the Panthers back up by five, 64-59.
Rapier did his best to keep the Seawolves in it with three baskets in a 90-second span to get the deficit to one, 66-65, with 1:06 to play, but Granger came up big again with a drive to the hoop and a throw-in jumper towards the baseline to make it a three-point game again. Dougher missed a tying three-pointer, and EIU went back up by four on free throws.
Stony Brook had one more chance as junior Tommy Brenton (Columbia, Md.) converted a three-point play with 10 seconds remaining on the clock to make it 70-69. Miller made two free throws for EIU, and Stony Brook had the ball with 9.1 seconds left and a chance to tie, but Dougher missed the three and time expired.
In addition to Rapier's 19, Dougher finished with 16 points, and Brenton added 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists. The Seawolves committed only 11 turnovers, but seven came in the second half.
Stony Brook heads home for a Wednesday matchup with Fairleigh Dickinson at Pritchard Gym at 7 p.m. The game will be the first of 11 men's & women's basketball games on Optimum Local Channel 118, available to all Cablevision iO TV digital cable subscribers in Nassau and Suffolk County.
