STONY BROOK, N.Y. -- The Stony Brook men's basketball team remains at home at it looks to bounce back against Northeastern Saturday evening. The Seawolves dropped a heartbreaker in their return home, as a last-second shot decided the midweek game against Loyola.
NOTEWORTHY
- The Seawolves picked up their first win of the Jeff Boals era with a 76-66 victory over Hampton.
- Senior Lucas Woodhouse matched his Stony Brook career best against Hampton, scoring 17 points in the victory, all of which came in the second half. He followed it up with 12 points against Loyola.
- Junior Tyrell Sturdivant followed up a double-double in the season opener with a career-best 26 points at Boston College. He currently leads the team in scoring and rebounding.
- Junior Roland Nyama returned to the starting lineup against Hampton and added 12 points and four rebounds.
- Redshirt freshman Akwasi Yeboah has scored in double figures in five of the six games this season.
- Stony Brook has had the same or fewer turnovers than its opponent in every game this season, and has forced 44 turnovers in its last three outings.
THE OPPONENT
The Huskies are coming off an 80-77 loss at Cornell on Wednesday night, kicking off a six-game road swing. Northeastern is 1-2 on the road this season and has scored over 70 points in each of its last four games. It has faced off against Boston University twice already this season and prior to the road swing, the Huskies topped Kent State at home, 73-70.
T.J. Williams leads the team with 23 points per game and 46 assists on the year.
THE SERIES
Stony Brook trails Northeastern in the all-time series 5-7. This is the sixth meeting on Long Island, where the Seawolves boast a 3-2 record against the Huskies. Stony Brook has taken two of the last three meetings. The two teams most recently met on Dec. 12, 2015 in Boston, when Northeastern took a 75-62 win.
The Seawolves are 11-17 against teams currently in the Colonial Athletic Conference, as the Huskies are one of three CAA teams that Stony Brook faces this season (Towson, Hofstra).
LAST TIME OUT
The Seawolves fell on another last-second heartbreaker at home, this time to Loyola, 71-70. Junior Tyrell Sturdivant led the way for Stony Brook with 18 points, while Andre Walker paced the Greyhounds with 24 points.
After trailing for much of the first half, the Seawolves closed out the opening period very strong, putting together a 13-0 run to regain their early, taking a 35-33 advantage into the halftime break. Stony Brook carried the momentum into the second half, extending its lead to seven on three occasions.
The game saw five ties over a five-minute span late in the second half, but Stony Brook did not give up it's lead until Loyola's Chancellor Barnard hit a jumper to break the 62-all tie with 2:04 to play.
The final two minutes saw six of the game's nine lead changes. Kameron Mitchell drove the lane with seven seconds on the clock and was fouled. He hit both free throws to put the Seawolves up 70-69, but Walker went straight to the basket off the inbound and was able to get one to fall as the clock ran out.
FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE
Senior Lucas Woodhouse leads the team from the free throw line, shooting 94-percent from the line on the year. Woodhouse has gone 4-for-4 from the charity stripe in each of the last two games.
FIRST WIN FOR BOALS
Head coach Jeff Boals earned the first win of his head coaching and Stony Brook career as the Seawolves topped Hampton, 76-66, on Nov. 26, 2016.
WOODHOUSE SPARKS SEAWOLVES IN WIN
Senior Lucas Woodhouse matched his Stony Brook career best against Hampton, putting up all 17 of his points in the second half. He also added a career-high four steals, including a momentum-shifting take-away while pressing that helped extend the early end of Stony Brook's first lead of the game with under seven minutes remaining in the game.
KEEPING IT CONSISTENT
Redshirt freshman Akwasi Yeboah and junior Tyrell Sturdivant have been consistant scorers for the Seawolves this season. Both players have scored in double figures in five of the six games this season.
SEAWOLVES STUFF A BUS TOY DRIVE
Throughout the month of December the Stony Brook basketball teams will be taking part in the Seawolves Stuff-A-Bus Toy Drive, asking all faculty/staff and fans to bring toys to any home game to be donated Stony Brook Pediatric Oncology Center. Student-athletes will pack up to collected toys and deliver them on Tuesday, Dec. 20th at 1 p.m.
