DURHAM, N.H. – It was a familiar scene for the Stony Brook men's basketball team as things yet again came down to the wire, but the Seawolves held on to claim a 59-56 win over New Hampshire at Lundholm Gymnasium Thursday night. Juniors
Tyrell Sturdivant and
Roland Nyama turned it on in the second half to help Stony Brook open America East play with a win and move to 6-8 on the year. The Wildcats sit at 0-1 in league play and 9-6 on the season.
Boals' Reaction
"We knew that after that first half we needed someone to give us a spark and Tyrell [Sturdivant] did it, Roland [Nyama] did it, it was great," said head coach
Jeff Boals. "I thought they were aggressive. Our game plan coming in was to try and get them in foul trouble, because we knew they didn't have a very deep bench, but very talented guys, and that's what we did. Every game in this league is going to be a dogfight. We showed some toughness in the second half and we are battled tested already."
Highlights
- After a slow first half for both teams, the Seawolves came out of the break ready. Senior Lucas Woodhouse (Greenlawn, N.Y.) sent a behind-the-back pass to junior Roland Nyama (Frankfurt, Germany) who knocked down the three.
- On the other end, senior Kameron Mitchell was able to draw an offensive foul on UNH's leading scorer Tanner Leissner and continue the momentum shift as Stony Brook outscored the Wildcats 11-4 by the first media timeout of the new period.
- Nyama hit another three with 12:16 left to play to give the Seawolves their first lead since the midway point in the first half.
- The Wildcats quickly took back the advantage, but back-to-back threes from Nyama and junior Bryan Sekunda (State College, Pa.) would put the game back in Stony Brook's favor for the rest of the night.
- Another three from Sekunda quickly broke the game's final tie with 2:29 left to play.
- UNH was able to get back within one as the clock ticked under a minute, but the Seawolves got a stop on defense and Sturdivant worked in the paint and dropped in the difference-maker and his 20th point of the night with 15 seconds remaining.
- Stony Brook got a hand on the final attempt from the Wildcats and held on for the win.
Notes
- This is the eighth time through 14 games that a Stony Brook game has been decided in the final minute of play. The Seawolves are now 4-4 in that situation.
- This is the second 20-plus point game of the season for Sturdivant.
- Mitchell added a career-best five boards and five assists in his fourth straight start.
- Leading scorers Sturdivant and Nyama combined for six points in the first half, turning it around to put up 28 as a pair in the second.
- Stony Brook committed just one turnover in the second half to finish with nine in the game, keeping the total in single digits for the sixth time this season.
- The Seawloves are now 9-7 in America East openers.
Up Next
The Seawolves will return to Island Federal Credit Union Arena for their America East home opener as they host Albany on Sunday, Jan. 8 at 2 p.m.
