March 8, 2015
Final Stats
Burlington, Vt. -
The Stony Brook men's basketball team rallied from a 16-point first-half deficit and held off Vermont, 79-77, to advance to the America East Championship game against Albany next Saturday.
The Seawolves will play in their second straight America East Championship game and third in the last four years.
Stony Brook (23-10), which is on an eight-game winning streak, had four players score in double figures, led by junior Jameel Warney (Plainfield, N.J.), who led all players with 24 points and 14 rebounds.
Freshman Deshaun Thrower (Muskegon, Mich.) scored a career-high 18 points, shooting 5-for-10 from the field, 3-for-4 from three, and 5-for-5 from the line. Thrower had 16 of his 18 in the second half.
Junior Carson Puriefoy (Wenonah, N.J.) tallied 17 points, including 15 in the second half.
The Seawolves scored a season-high 50 points in the second half.
Junior Rayshaun McGrew (Chicago, Ill.) had 12 points.
Hector Harold totaled 17 points for Vermont (18-13). Ethan O'Day added 14 points.
Quotes . . .
Steve Pikiell
"Vermont made some great shots in the first half. All I told our guys was to play defense and we'll get back in this. We've been down against Columbia and Washington. We made adjustments on [Hector] Harold in the second half. We overcame some obstacles and beat a quality basketball team. I'm so proud of
Deshaun Thrower. In games like these, you need another guy to step up. He was so good for us today. We made the stops we needed to."
Turning Point
Stony Brook trailed by double digits for the majority of the first half. A pair of free throws from Trae Bell-Haynes gave Vermont its second 16-point lead of the first half. Two layups from McGrew cut the deficit to 41-29 at halftime. The Seawolves slowly but surely crept. The Catamounts upped their lead to 45-34 with 18:21 left, but SBU made its run, scoring on 12 of the next 13 possessions over a nine-minute stretch, turning the deficit into a 64-53 lead after Thrower's three with 9:09 to play.
Vermont, which never regained the lead, tied the game at 71 on Kurt Steidl's three pointer with just over three minutes left. Warney's jump hook made it 73-71 and McGrew's tip of Warney's miss gave Stony Brook a 75-71 lead with 1:26 to play.
Stony Brook led 79-77 with three seconds left, but a jump ball led to possession for Vermont. O'Day's fall-away jumper was tipped by Warney and the Seawolves held on for the win.
By The Numbers
• Stony Brook shot 17 of 31 (.548) from the field in the second half after a 10-for-30 first half.
• Vermont shot 11-for-28 in the second half after a 14-for-27 first half.
• Warney went 11-for-17 from the field. It was his eighth career game with at least 10 field goals, sixth this season and third out of the last four.
• The Seawolves outrebounded the Catamounts, 42-29.
• Stony Brook was 19 of 25 from the free throw line.
• Warney added five blocks and three assists.
• Harold had only four points in the second half.
• Stony Brook made five of its six threes in the second half.
News & Notes
• Stony Brook is 12-4 when McGrew scores in double figures this season.
• The Seawolves are 16-3 when three players reach double figures and 8-1 when four players get to double digits.
• Warney accounted for his nation-leading 22nd double-double of the season. His 541 points this season are a Division I program single-season high.
• Today's victory was Stony Brook's second in Burlington in 15 games.
• The eight-game winning streak is Stony Brook's second longest since joining Division I in 1999.
