CHICAGO, Ill. – It was another battle that came down to the final seconds, but the Stony Brook men's basketball team was unable to advance in the CBI, falling 71-69 to UIC Thursday night. The Seawolves trailed by 19 points in the final minutes of play, and got back within a possession with under a minute left. Stony Brook finishes the 2017 season with an 18-14 record.  
 
Boals' Reaction
"We've battled back all year. I'd rather not be down 19, but it shows you the resiliency and the toughness of this group," said head coach Jeff Boals. "I think our zone changed it up for them, got [UIC] off balance a little bit and I think that got us back in the game. We had a chance down the stretch but we dug too big of a hole. The way this team battled and fought to get back in it, I'm just really proud of them."
 
Highlights

• It was a back-and-forth first half with the Seawolves in control until UIC's Dominique Matthews hit back-to-back threes with 3:46 remaining until the break to give the Flames their first lead since the start of the game.
• The two teams traded buckets, but UIC scored four points in the final 43 seconds of the half to take a three-point lead into the break.
• Freshman Michael Almonacy (Brentwood, N.Y.) scored in the opening seconds of the new half, but UIC responded with an 11-0 run.
• Redshirt freshman Akwasi Yeboah (Chigwell, England) broke up the scoring spree, but it didn't slow the Flames' production.
• UIC led by 19 points with five minutes remaining in the game, but the Seawolves put together an 18-2 run in the closing minutes to get back within a possession with under a minute to play.
• Junior Bryan Sekunda (State College, Pa.) made a jumper to get Stony Brook back within single digits. He came up with a big steal in the press and immediately laid one in despite being fouled. The good free throw made it a two-possession game with 58 seconds on the clock.
• Matthews went 1-of-2 from the line with 35 seconds left in the game and Almonacy went straight to the hoop on the other end to get Stony Brook within three.
• The Seawolves were able to counter UIC's late free throws and keep the door open, but they were unable to get any closer than two before the buzzer.

 
Notes

• Yeboah turned it on in the second half, scoring 13 of his team-best 15 points.
• Junior UC Iroegbu (Sacramento, Calif.) kept Stony Brook in it in the first half, leading the way with nine points, all coming from beyond the arc, en-route to his third double-digit scoring game of the year.
• This is the 13^th time this season a Stony Brook game has been decided in the final minute of play. The team has won eight of these outings.
• The Seawolves forced 19 turnovers in the game and capitalized on the UIC mishaps, scoring 24 of their points off the mistakes.
• Stony Brook's bench dominated, outscoring UIC 43-17.