LOWELL, Mass. – Led by a 44-point second half, the Stony Brook men's basketball team earn its first conference win this season in the America East opener, defeating UMass Lowell 75-63 at the Costello Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon.
Redshirt-junior
Akwasi Yeboah (Chigwell, England) scored 19 points in his return to action for the Seawolves, while freshman
Miles Latimer (Fairfax, Va.) tallied 13 of his overall 16 points in the second half to power a late Stony Brook run that helped
Jeff Boals' team pull away on the road.
BOALS' REACTION
"I thought in the first half, we didn't come out like a team that was 12-3. I thought we had more energy in the second half and got stops when we needed to and I'm really proud of our guys. The biggest thing we have to learn from this is every possession matters. We have to understand that every single time down, we have to be locked in. I think we will get better at that as the year goes on."
HIGHLIGHTS
- Stony Brook started fast, scoring eight of the game's first 12 points. Latimer and sophomore Elijah Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) hit back to back threes to put the Seawolves up 8-4.
- Yeboah's layup put Stony Brook up 12-8 at the 15:08 mark, but UMass Lowell responded with five straight points to go up by one at 13-12 in what would become a back-and-forth first 20 minutes.
- Neither team would hold a three-point advantage in the first 20 minutes, with a Connor Bennett dunk putting the River Hawks up 27-24 with 5:12 to go in the first half. Stony Brook came back, however, with a Yeboah triple and sophomore Jordan McKenzie (Concord, N.C.) floater to go back up two.
- The River Hawks scored six of the final eight points to take a two-point lead, 33-31, into the locker room.
- Latimer started the second half hot, scoring seven of Stony Brook's nine in the first five minutes, including a deep three, to put Stony Brook up 40-35.
- UMass Lowell responded with eight straight to go up three but freshman Alex Christie (Oakville, Ontario) scored back to back buckets for his first-career points, putting the Seawolves up 44-43 with 13:22 to go in the period.
- Stony Brook continued to extend the lead, blowing it up to as much as 10 with 7:11 to go on an Olaniyi rebound and layup.
- The margin was brought as close as three with 4:04 to play, but the Seawolves closed on an 11-2 run to close out the win.
NOTES
- The Seawolves have matched their 2017-18 win total, taking home their 13thvictory of the season Saturday afternoon.
- Stony Brook had eight different scorers in the first half with Yeboah leading them all at nine.
- The Seawolves have now won 11 consecutive conference openers and 10 of 11 meetings with the River Hawks in the Division I era.
- Yeboah led the Seawolves with 19 points, including three shots from long range in his return after a one-game absence.
- 13 of Latimer's 16 came in the second half, marking the fourth time that the freshman has hit double figures in the final 20 minutes.
- Along with 16 points, the Virginia native added a career-high four assists and made all six of his free throws.
- Christie scored for the first time in his ninth appearance of the season, also grabbing a pair of rebounds in four minutes of action.
- Stony Brook has now won eight true road games this season.
- Sophomore Jeff Otchere (Bronx, N.Y.) recorded a block in his eighth consecutive game, swatting three UMass Lowell shots.
- 10 different players scored for the Seawolves, the highest total this season for Coach Boals' club.
- The Seawolves shot 18-for-20 from the free throw line, including a perfect 14-for-14 in the second half, finishing at 90 percent. That's the best rate at the stripe this season.
UP NEXT
The Seawolves host their first conference opponent on Wednesday night, playing Binghamton at 7 p.m.
Be sure not to miss a second of Stony Brook action this week by getting your tickets here.
