GAME 31: STONY BROOK SEAWOLVES (18-12) vs ALBANY GREAT DANES (20-12)
LOCATION	Island Federal Credit Union Arena  |  Stony Brook, N.Y.
DATE  | TIME	Monday, March 6  |  7:30 p.m.
COVERAGE	Live Stats  |  Watch Live
GAME NOTES	Stony Brook | Albany

STONY BROOK, N.Y. --  The Stony Brook men's basketball team is set to host rival Albany in the semifinals of the America East Playoffs Monday night. The Seawolves completed the regular season sweep of the Great Danes for the first time since the 2012-13 season, but Albany has claimed the last three post-season meetings. The winner will go on to face the winner of the Vermont-New Hampshire semifinal match up.
 

NOTEWORTHY

- Stony Brook holds an 18-14 all-time record in the America East Playoffs and has advanced to the semifinals in each of the last eight seasons.

- Lucas Woodhouse led the way for Stony Brook in the quarterfinals with 24 points, his eighth time over the 20-point mark this season. He has scored in double figures in 13 of the last 16 games. 

- Lucas Woodhouse is just three assists shy of the Stony Brook single-season record (158).

- Akwasi Yeboah helped lead the Seawolves with a career day against Binghamton, notching 21 points and 16 assists for his second double-double of the year. He has scored in double figures in each of the last four games. 

- Roland Nyama closed out the regular season averaging 16.6 points and 5.3 rebounds through the last seven games. 

- Tyrell Sturdivant finished the regular season averaging 11.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in league play. 

- Bryan Sekunda notched his fifth double-digit scoring game of the season with 14 off a bench that outscored Hartford's 34-2. 

- Stony Brook has limited itself to single-digit turnovers 11 times this season, committing 10 or fewer on 19 occasions, sitting at 30th in the nation in turnover margin.

- Stony Brook has seen 12 of its 30 games so far this season be decided in the final minute of play. 

THE OPPONENT

   Albany enters the semifinal game at 20-10 on the season, and advanced in the playoffs after a 100-71, quarterfinal win over 6-seed Hartford at home Wednesday night. The Great Danes closed out the regular season going 6-1 in their final seven games, falling only to Vermont. They rank in the top 50 in the nation in rebounding margin (7.4), free throw percentage (75.7), field goal percentage (47.2) and scoring defense (66.6). Joe Cremo and David Nichols lead the Albany offense and rank among the top 10 in the league in scoring. 

THE SERIES

  Stony Brook leads the all-time series with the Great Danes, 23-19. The two teams first met in 2000, when Albany took a 51-47 win in Stony Brook. The Seawolves boast an 11-8 record against Albany at home after rallying for the biggest comeback in program history earlier this season. Stony Brook trailed by 21 with under 10 minutes to play. The Seawolves took their first lead of the game and sealed the win one a Tyrell Sturdivant layup with less than a second on the clock.  Stony Brook completed the regular season sweep when it topped the Great Danes 72-65 in Albany behind 23 points from Lucas Woodhouse.

   The Seawolves are 3-3 against Albany in the America East Playoffs. The last meeting came in the 2015 championship game when the Seawolves fell 51-50 on a late three from Peter Hooley at SEFCU Arena.

LAST TIME OUT

   Stony Brook advanced to its eighth straight America East semifinal game ad it knocked off Binghamton 70-60 Wednesday night. Senior Lucas Woodhouse got the Seawolves going with an early three. He hit two more from beyond the mark to go along with dunks from juniors Roland Nyama and Junior Saintel that helped Stony Brook jump out to a 13-5 lead and force a Binghamton timeout before the first media.

   The Seawolves continued to push, going on a 15-1 run to get the lead to 21 with just over eight minutes remaining until the break. Stony Brook notched its largest halftime lead of the season, up 16 on Binghamton behind a 15-point half from Woodhouse and 12-point half from redshirt freshman Akwasi Yeboah.

It was Woodhouse again that sparked the Seawolves to begin the new half, draining his fourth three of the night in the opening minute of play.

  A 9-0 run for the Bearcats beginning with just over eight minutes remaining got them back within single digits as a Marlon Beck II three made it an 8-point game, 54-46.

A lull in scoring saw Stony Brook's last field goal of the game come with 5:32 left to play and allowed Binghamton to see-saw the difference in-and-out of single digits. The Bearcats got as close as seven with under a minute remaining after a pair of free throws from Timmy Rose, but they were forced to foul and the Seawolves connected on all six attempts from the line in the closing seconds of the game.

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS

    Five Seawolves were honored this week as the America East announced its post season awards. Senior Lucas Woodhouse led the group earning All-America East First Team honors. Junior Tyrell Sturdivant was named to the third team, while redshirt freshman Akwasi Yeboah garnered All-Rookie team accolades. Junior Roland Nyama was named to the All-Defensive team and junior Bryan Sekunda was named the to league's All-Academic team for the second straight season. 

STRONG FINISH

    Nyama and Yeboah stepped up for the Seawolves in the final games of the regular season. Nyama scored in double figures in six of the final seven games, leading the team in scoring in three of those outings. Yeboah returned to double figures off the bench in the final three games of the regular season.

TWENTY-PLUS

    Woodhouse has been a leader for the Seawolves all season, especially on the offensive end. He strung together four-straight 20-plus point games against the top five teams in the America East. Woodhouse has surpassed the 20-point mark eight times this season. 

FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE

    Woodhouse is tied for 15th in the nation and leads the league from the free throw line, shooting 90-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.

HELPING HAND

    Woodhouse currently leads the America East and is 46th in the nation with 5.2 assists per game. Woodhouse also sits at 34th in the country in assist-turnover ratio (2.67) while the team ranks 66th (1.23). Woodhouse has had at least one assist in every game he has played at Stony Brook and is just three shy of the program single-season record (158). He currently ranks sixth on the all-time career list with 269 through two seasons.