Game 21: Stony Brook (17-3, 5-0 America East) vs. Vermont (15-5, 5-1 America East)
LOCATION	Island Federal Arena | Stony Brook, N.Y.
DATE | TIME	Saturday, January 26 | 7 p.m.
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COVERAGE	Live Stats  | Watch Live | Listen Live

STONY BROOK, N.Y. – First place in the America East is on the line Saturday night when the Stony Brook men's basketball team takes on Vermont at Island Federal Arena. The Seawolves (5-0) enter the night a half-game ahead of the Catamounts (5-1) in the teams' first meeting of the year.
 
Stony Brook is coming off an overtime victory on Wednesday night, erasing an eight-point deficit in the second half to take down rival UAlbany 67-66 in the Capital District. Redshirt-junior Akwasi Yeboah (Chigwell, England) scored 21 points and hauled in 11 rebounds, while senior Jaron Cornish (Abaco, Bahamas) hit the game-winning three with 1:43 to finish his night at 14 points.
 
THE OPPONENT
Vermont enters Saturday night's contest at 15-5, coming off the team's first America East loss to defending conference champions UMBC, 74-61, Wednesday night at Patrick Gymnasium. Ernie Duncan led the way, scoring 22 points while hitting four 3's on the night. Everett Duncan, his brother, recorded a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds on 5-for-11 shooting.
 
The team's leading scorer is Anthony Lamb, who pours them in at a 20.6 per game clip, but he missed Wednesday's game due to injury. He's also the team's leading rebounder at 7.5 boards per game. Ernie (14.1) and Stef Smith (12.6) are the team's other scorers who average double figures. The Catamounts lead the league in turnovers, coughing the ball up just 11 times per game and are inside the Top 25 nationally in that category (23rd) as well as free throw percentage (22nd).
 
THE SERIES
Vermont has won 29 of the 40 overall meetings between the teams, including each of the last five matchups. Stony Brook's last win against the Catamounts was in the 2016 America East Championship game, which the Seawolves won 80-74.

SUITS AND SNEAKERS
This week, coaches across the country will be celebrating Suits and Sneakers Week in partnership with Coaches vs. Cancer. The NABC and American Cancer Society have partnered for over 25 years in this campaign. During the week, coaches in colleges and high schools across the nation will wear sneakers with their suits during games to raise awareness for Coaches vs. Cancer and the fight against cancer. Since its inception, the campaign has raised over $115 million.
 
PLAYING THE LONG GAME     
In conference play this season, the Seawolves have been winning the battle from outside the arc, especially on the defensive end. They are holding teams to just 25.5 percent from deep in the five league games. That number is over five percent better than the next best team in the league, as UMass Lowell stands in second with opponents shooting 30.6 percent from 3-point land.
                  
TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK
Powered by a pair of 15-assist performances as a team in league play this season, a mark the Seawolves hit twice in non-conference, Stony Brook has upped its average by 1.7 in assists per game to 12.6 in games against America East competition. That mark currently sits fourth in the league, 1.4 per game behind Maine as the top passing team.
 
COMEBACK KIDS
Down by eight in the second half of Wednesday's game at UAlbany, the Seawolves did what they have done all season: rally back and win the game. They scored 13 of the final 19 points of regulation to send the night into overtime before prevailing. After Stony Brook's 18-point comeback at Maine on Saturday afternoon, the Seawolves have come from behind three times this season when trailing by 10 or more points in the second half.
 
CAN'T SPELL "ELITE" WITHOUT "ELI"
Coming off the Christmas break with three such games in his previous eight outings, sophomore Elijah Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) has scored in double figures in five of his last six appearances. Over this six-game stretch, the Newark, N.J. native is averaging 11.5 points per game, along with 5.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals per night while shooting 46.0 percent from the field.
 
DROPPING DIMES
Senior Jaron Cornish (Abaco, Bahamas) recorded the team's first 10-assist performance since 2013 on Saturday, dishing out 10 in the team's win against Maine. Nine of these came in the second half while four different Seawolves recorded eight or more points in the period. He is the third player in the America East to accomplish the feat this season and is the only one to do it in conference play during the 2018-19 campaign.
 
ROAD-FLOOR… ADVANTAGE?
Stony Brook has played 13 of its 20 games away from home during the 2018-19 campaign and won 11 of them. This includes 10 true road wins, which is the most in the country, after the team's victory in Albany on Wednesday. The team's five consecutive wins on the road are tied for the second-most with Omaha and UNC Greensboro. 
 
DEFENSIVELY DOMINANT
Five games into the conference season, the Seawolves lead the America East in six defensive categories, including overall KenPom defensive efficiency. The Seawolves currently lead the league in points against, allowing just 56.0 points per game in conference play, which is 1.5 points less than Vermont. Those two teams are the only ones surrendering less than 60 points per game in league play this season.
 
LET'S GO STREAKING
Stony Brook's seven-game winning streak is its longest of the season and the longest in the three years under head coach Jeff Boals. It is also tied for the ninth-longest streak in the country, while the road winning streak (five) is tied for the second-longest nationally. In addition to its current streak, Stony Brook has won seven of its last eight America East regular season contests and six in a row on the road.

UP NEXT
The Seawolves hit the road again on Wednesday night, with Baltimore, Md. next on the travel itinerary for a date with the defending conference champions, UMBC, at 7 p.m.