STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The Stony Brook men's basketball team is off to its best start since the 2009-10 season with a 68-58 victory over Rhode Island on Saturday afternoon at the Ryan Center in Kingston, R.I.

Redshirt junior Akwasi Yeboah (Chigwell, England) poured in 19 points on five rebounds and redshirt sophomore Andrew Garcia (Harlem, N.Y.) added 14 points with six rebounds to power the victory.

Stony Brook used a 16-3 run in the latter portions of the first half to take a 32-21 lead and would not relinquish the advantage the rest of the way, only letting it get as close as three in the early portions of the second half.

BOALS' REACTION
"We knew what we had to do to win a game on the road. Our guys showed a lot of toughness, came in here and had a great game. We wanted to win the 'first two wars' in the first eight minutes of the game. We knew their pressure was going to be some of the best we'll see and our guys handled it really well. Same thing in the second half. We had to come out and get to a good start, which we did. Give our guys a lot of credit. We made plays on both ends of the floor and had a lot of guys step up and contribute."

HIGHLIGHTS
-    The game was tight in the first eight minutes, with neither team securing a lead larger than four. A 7-2 Rhode Island spurt put them up 15-11 with 12:19 to go in the half.
-    Dana Tate's layup made it 19-16 with 9:33 to go in the half, but the Seawolves responded with their big 16-3 run after that. 
-    Five different Seawolves combined for 16 points over the 3:54 stretch, with Garcia and Yeboah leading the way with five points each. 
-    Rhode Island responded, scoring nine of the final 12 points to cut the lead to 35-30 at the break.
-    After a Cyril Langevine layup made it a three-point game on the first play of the second, Stony Brook went on a 10-4 spurt to extend the lead to nine with 13:39 left in the period.
-    The lead stayed between eight and 11 all the way through the under-eight media, and that is when the Seawolves distanced themselves even more. Sophomore Jordan McKenzie drilled a layup, then added a floater off the window with 5:01 left to make it a 61-46 Stony Brook lead, the largest it would get all night.

NOTES
-    Yeboah has now scored double figures in all six games this year and eight consecutive, dating back to last season.
-    The Seawolves have now won two games vs. Atlantic 10 opponents, a conference the program had one win in the Division I era against coming into the season.
-    Stony Brook's defense held a team under 60 points for the first time this season.
-    Freshman Jules Moor (Houston, Texas) made his first career start for Stony Brook, finishing with three points, two rebounds, and five steals.
-    Stony Brook's defense has averaged allowing 59.5 points per game and making 11.5 steals in its last two outings.
-    The Seawolves defense held Rhode Island to 8.3 percent from long range, as the Rams hit just two of 24 attempts from distance.
-    The victory over Rhode Island is the first for Stony Brook in the program's history.

UP NEXT
The Seawolves are on the road again, taking on the Spartans of Norfolk State on Tuesday night in Norfolk, Va. Stony Brook defeated NSU 72-65 earlier this season in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena.