STONY BROOK, N.Y. -- The Stony Brook men's basketball team remains at home this week to host Maine Sunday afternoon. Following a quick turnaround, the Seawolves have had a week to rest before the Black Bears come to town. Stony Brook looks to make it four straight victories and three straight at home, while Maine aims to bounce back on the road.
NOTEWORTHY
- Lucas Woodhouse laid in the game-winner against UNH and neared a triple-double for the second time this season, leading the team with nine rebounds and nine assists. He rounded out the week with his fourth-straight 20-plus point game, finishing with 23, in the win at Albany. He was named America East co-Player of the Week for his performances.
- Tyrell Sturdivant is averaging 14.0 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in league play.
- Roland Nyama gave the Seawolves a big lift in the win at Albany, scoring 11 of his 14 points in the second half, following it up with a season-best 19 points in the win over UMass Lowell.
- Junior Saintel added eight points in the win over UNH, with all three field goals coming off of dunks. He leads the team with 20 so far this season.
- The Seawolves tallied a season-high seven dunks in the win over UMass Lowell. UC Iroegbu, Jakub Petras and Tyrell Sturdivant all got up for their first dunks of the season.
- Stony Brook has limited itself to single-digit turnovers nine times this season, committing 10 or fewer on 15 occasions, sitting at 31st in the nation in turnover margin.
- Stony Brook has seen 11 of its 24 games so far this season be decided in the final minute of play.
THE OPPONENT
Maine enters the Sunday meeting at 6-20 on the year, 2-9 in conference play. The Black Bears recently snapped a seven-game skid with a 52-43 win over Hartford. They are currently in the middle of a three-game road trip that started with a 100-68 loss at UMass Lowell Thursday night. Leading scorer Wes Myers ranks sixth in the league in point per game and is averaging over 20 ppg in America East play.
THE SERIES
Stony Brook leads the all-time series with the Black Bears 21-14. The Seawolves have claimed 13 straight meetings with Maine, including the first match up earlier this season. Stony Brook downed the Black Bears 74-54 in Bangor behind a 20-point, 7-assists performance from Lucas Woodhouse. The two teams first met on Dec. 30, 1999, when the Seawolves fell 67-55.
LAST TIME OUT
The Seawolves survived the quick turnaround as they topped UMass Lowell 83-72 Monday evening. Stony Brook opened the game on a 16-3 run that ended on four straight threes to jump out to an early lead.
The River Hawks responded with a 10-2 run to get back within two, but three straight threes, two coming from junior Bryan Sekunda and another from freshman Michael Almonacy, made it a two-possession game again.
A late three from UMass Lowell's Tyler Livingston made it a three-point game just before the half. Junior UC Iroegbu got up for his first dunk of the season eight seconds before the half, and hustled down to the other end to block the River Hawks' final attempt of the half. UMass Lowell scored back-to-back buckets to open the second half and make it a one-point game. Stony Brook responded with a pair of threes and a put-back by junior Jakub Petras to return the lead to eight.
Back-to-back dunks from Petras capped off a 9-0 run by Stony Brook to give them their largest lead of the night at 14 points.
Stony Brook tallied a season-best seven dunks in the game.
FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE
Senior Lucas Woodhouse is ranked 10th in the nation and second in the league from the free throw line, shooting 91-percent from the line on the year. Woodhouse made 30 consecutive free throws to begin conference play.
Earlier in the year against Northeastern, Woodhouse went 8-for-8 in the final 1:38 of the win before setting a new career best the next game with 12 makes on 12 attempts against Lehigh.
As a team, the Seawolves are shooting 72.7 from the line, good for 87th in the country.
HELPING HAND
Woodhouse currently leads the America East and is tied for 38th in the nation with 5.4 assists per game. Woodhouse also sits at 21st in the country in assist-turnover ratio (3.00) while the team ranks 45th (1.28). Against Vermont, Woodhouse dished out five assists and did not commit a turnover. This marked the fourth time this season he has not had a turnover while tallying at least four assists.
CLEAN PLAY
Stony Brook has limited itself in turnovers all season, keeping the number in single digits on nine occasions. The Seawolves rank 26th in the nation in turnover margin (3.2). They have committed more turnovers than their opponent on just three occasions this year. Stony Brook most recently had just nine mishaps against Vermont.
