Game 30: Stony Brook (23-6, 11-3 America East) at Vermont (22-6, 12-2 America East)
LOCATION	Patrick Gymnasium | Burlington, Vt.
DATE | TIME	Saturday, March 2 | 7 p.m.
TICKETS	SOLD OUT
COVERAGE	Live Stats  | Watch Live | Listen Live
GAME NOTES	Stony Brook | Vermont
SOCIAL MEDIA	Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | #SeawolvesUnited | #AEHoops

STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The Stony Brook men's basketball team continues its march towards the top seed in the America East Men's Basketball Playoffs with a trip to Burlington, Vt. and a bout with the current holders of that title, the Catamounts of Vermont. While the Seawolves need two wins in its final two games to secure the top seed, a win ensures that Stony Brook will be a top two seed in the tournament that starts a week from Saturday.
 
The Seawolves won their final regular season home game on Wednesday night, defeating UMBC 78-63 behind five players scoring in double figures for the squad. Redshirt-junior Akwasi Yeboah (Chigwell, England) led Stony Brook with 16 points and nine rebounds while freshman Miles Latimer (Fairfax, Va.) provided an outside assault, hitting four shots from beyond the arc.
 
THE OPPONENT
Vermont bounced back from a road loss on Saturday night, defeating Binghamton 69-63 in Vestal, N.Y. to remain in first place in the America East. Anthony Lamb and Ernie Duncan combined for 50 of the Catamount's 69 points, with Lamb recorded a double-double with 28 points and 12 rebounds. Duncan hit five threes en route to 22 points.
 
Lamb is the team's leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 21.4 points and eight rebounds per night. He has scored 20 or more in six of his last seven games. Duncan is inside the Top 20 in 3-point percentage, making 44 percent of his shots from beyond the arc. The team is in the Top 25 in turnovers, coughing the ball up 10.9 times per night.
 
THE SERIES
Vermont has won 29 of the 40 overall meetings between the teams, including each of the last six matchups. Andrew Garcia (Harlem, N.Y.) scored 14 points in the reverse matchup on Long Island, while Miles Latimer (Fairfax, Va.) and Akwasi Yeboah (Chigwell, England) each chipped in 10.
 
DEFENDING THE ISLAND
The Seawolves continued their stout defensive play in conference, holding UMBC to 63 points and 1-for-20 from outside the 3-point arc on Wednesday night at Island Federal Arena. This performance is a microscosm of what the Seawolves have been able to do defensively, limiting their opposition to 27.9 percent from beyond the 3-point line, which leads the conference. In all games this season, Stony Brook ranks 15th nationally, holding teams to 30.2 percent from downtown.
 
CONTROLLED DESTINY
With two games to play before the 2019 America East Playoffs, Stony Brook controls its own destiny on where it will be seeded for the upcoming tournament. Two wins will secure the top seed for the Seawolves, while one makes sure the team finishes inside the top two. The Seawolves have taken advantage of the new format, going 5-1 at home since it changed to all home sites in the 2014-15 season.
 
EVERYBODY GETS A BUCKET!
For the second time this season, the Seawolves finished with five players in double figures in the team's win against UMBC on Wednesday night. Akwasi Yeboah (Chigwell, England), Miles Latimer (Fairfax, Va.), Andrew Garcia (Harlem, N.Y.), Jaron Cornish (Abaco, Bahamas) and Elijah Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) all chipped in 10 points or more to help Stony Brook defeat the defending champions. This has happened only four times since Jeff Boals took over during the 2016-17 season and all four occasions have turned into victories, including wins this season against South Carolina and UMBC.
 
DOING IT ALL
Sophomore Elijah Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) has been on a roll on both ends of the floor in the last seven games, helping the Seawolves to a 6-1 record during this span. He is averaing 14.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 steals per contest, a stretch that was started by a 28-point performance against Hartford on February 2.
 
BASKET MORE THAN HALF FULL
For the fourth time this season, the Seawolves reached the 50 percent mark from the field, making 27 of the team's 54 shots from the field en route to 78 points and a 15-point victory against the Retrievers. The Seawolves' most efficient shooting night came in Norfolk, when the team made 55 percent of its shots from the field against Norfolk State. Over the last five games, they are over three points higher than the season average, hitting 45.2 percent of shots from the field.
 
UP NEXT
Stony Brook rounds out the 2018-19 regular season with a trip to West Hartford, Conn. and a Tuesday night matchup with the Hartford Hawks. Both teams have already clinched a home game in the America East playoffs.