March 10, 2013
2012-13 Stony Brook Men's Basketball
Game #31: Stony Brook (24-6) at Albany (22-10)
America East Championship semifinals
Sun., March 10 • SEFCU Arena • Albany, N.Y. • 7 p.m.
On the Web
ESPN3 with Eric Frede & Frank Sullivan
On the Radio
WUSB 90.1 FM & WUSB.fm/sports with Mike Solano, Curt Hylton & Jeff Bernstein
LIVE: STATS | AUDIO | VIDEO | TWITTER
INFO: GAME NOTES (PDF)
VOTE Tommy Brenton: LOU HENSON
Stony Brook Seawolves (24-6, 14-2 America East)
Head Coach: Steve Pikiell, eighth season
Overall Record: 124-142
Record at SBU: 119-124
Albany Great Danes (22-10, 9-7 America East)
Head Coach: Will Brown, 12th season
Overall Record: 170-190
Record at Albany: same
About the Game
A bid to the America East Championship final is on the line Sunday as the Seawolves square off with SUNY rival Albany in the tournament semifinals. This is a fitting matchup as the two teams have met 60 times in their history and have met in the tournament in each of the last three seasons. Stony Brook is the nation's leader in true road wins this season, and this game will be considered a true road game, just the third time in the current format of the America East Championship that the No. 1 seed is forced to play a true road game in the tournament. Albany leads the all-time series 34-26, but the Seawolves have won six straight over the Great Danes.
Scouting Albany
The Great Danes defeated Maine 50-49 in the quarterfinals, coming back from a nine-point halftime deficit. Albany shot only 34% for the game, but forced 17 Maine turnovers and made 13 of 17 free throw attempts. Sam Rowley's play of late has helped a Great Danes offense that was previously guard heavy. Jacob Iati and Mike Black account for 41.8% of Albany's points this season, but Rowley averaged 11.1 points during conference play and had 19 points last night against Maine, including what proved to be the game-winning basket with 19 seconds left.
Season Series vs. Albany
The Seawolves and Great Danes met twice during the regular season, and the Seawolves won both games, but they were two very different contests. At Albany on Jan. 29, the Seawolves defense held the Great Danes to five second-half field goals and held Mike Black scoreless as Stony Brook cruised to a 65-49 victory. Last week at Pritchard Gym, the Seawolves defense allowed Albany to shoot 50%, but the offense picked up the slack behind Carson Puriefoy's career-high 17 points in a 75-70 comeback victory.
