STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Led by the first 30-point performance by a Stony Brook player this season, the Stony Brook men's basketball team earned its eighth win in America East play and 20^thoverall with a 76-65 victory over UMass Lowell Saturday night in front of 3,658 fans at Island Federal Arena.
 
Senior Jaron Cornish (Abaco, Bahamas) scored 17 of his 30 in the second half, including nine in a row by himself through the middle of the period, leading all scorers. He also swiped four steals on the night, while sophomore Elijah Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) added 15 and redshirt-junior Akwasi Yeboah (Chigwell, England) recorded a double double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

BOALS' REACTION
"Our community and students have been incredible these last few games. The atmosphere was again outstanding tonight because of them. UMass Lowell got off to a really good start and I don't think we were guarding them too well. We talked about rebounding at the half, which has really been our bread and butter all year. Jaron Cornish was phenomenal in the second half and our defense was really good at the end to get the win. That was a high-powered offense and being able to hold them to 65 points was great."
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• UMass Lowell started fast, scoring eight of the game's first 11 points with a couple of threes on back to back possessions. They led 8-3 at the 16:28 mark.
• After extending the lead to 11-5, Stony Brok answered with seven in a row, all by Olaniyi, with the latter bucket of the run making it 12-11 in favor of the home team.
• The only bucket of the night from freshman Jules Moor (Houston, Texas) made it a three-point Seawolves lead with 7:54 to go.
• UMass Lowell responded, however, with a 10-0 run to go up seven with 4:35 to play. Stony Brook then answered, outscoring the River Hawks 15-7 the rest of the way to take a two-point lead into the halftime locker room.
• The River Hawks started the second half fast, scoring the first five out of the break to go up 40-37 with 93 seconds gone in the period.
• The team's continued to go back and forth in the first eight minutes, until Cornish took over, giving Stony Brook the lead for good with 12:37 left.
• His personal 9-0 run put Stony Brook up 56-48 with 11:22 to play and the Seawolves would not relinquish that advantage.
• After the senior put Stony Brook up eight, the closest it would get the rest of the way was four, with a Yeboah dunk putting the exclamation point on the night with 30 seconds left.

NOTES

• This is the first 20-win season for Jeff Boals and the seventh for the Seawolves in the program's Division I era.
• Cornish's 30-point performance was the first by a Stony Brook player this season and the first since December 2017, when Yeboah scored 30 against Columbia.
• He had previously scored 22 on two separate occasions, the most recent being against Norfolk State on November 27.
• The senior from the Bahamas also recorded four steals, which is a new career-high against Division I opposition.
• Olaniyi recorded his third consecutive game in double figures and is now shooting 24-for-36 from the field and 8-for-14 from three in his last three games.
• Yeboah's double-double is the seventh of the season for him and the fourth in his last six contests. He is averaging 13.8 points and 10.2 rebounds in that span.
• The Seawolves 20-5 record is one game off the Division I record pace, as the 2015-16 team won 21 of its first 25 outings.
• After 30 percent shooting performances against Vermont and UMBC, the Seawolves are shooting 46.4 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from three in the last three contests, all resulting in wins.
• Sophomore Jeff Otchere (Bronx, N.Y.) blocked three shots tonight, making it four straight contests he has blocked multiple shots and nine of his 10 America East games in which he has accomplished the feat. He is averaging 3.6 blocks per night in conference play.

UP NEXT
After the bye on Wednesday night, Stony Brook takes on New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon in Durham, N.H. before beginning a three-game homestand at Island Federal Arena the following Thursday.