BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Stony Brook men's basketball team was able to erase a 13-point second half deficit and turn it into a four-point lead in a matter of five minutes, but the Seawolves could not hold on at Patrick Gym, falling to Vermont 56-50 on Saturday night.
 
Redshirt-junior Akwasi Yeboah (Chigwell, England) recorded a double-double on the night, finishing with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Elijah Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) scored a team-high 11 points and redshirt-sophomore Andrew Garcia (Harlem, N.Y.) chipped in 10 to finish the scoring for the Seawolves.
 
BOALS REACTION
"Our effort in the second half was phenomenal. Heading into halftime, we had 12 turnovers and that's way too many. We came out, limited those and got offensive rebounds and played some really good defense. I give a lot of credit to our guys for battling back and getting back into the game, but at the end, they made plays and we didn't. That's what it comes down to against good teams."

HIGHLIGHTS

• Vermont started out to a 9-4 lead in the first 4:34, with the points being split between four different Catamounts.
• After freshman Miles Latimer (Fairfax, Va.) brought the lead to two, Vermont went on a 14-2 run over a five minute span to make it 25-11 with 7:40 to play in the half.
• The Seawolves brought the lead as close as nine on multiple occasions, but it was 12 heading into the break.
• Vermont extended the lead to 13 on a Ben Shungu three, but then the Seawolves stormed back on a 17-0 run over a span of 5:03 to take the lead. Yeboah had 10 during the stretch.
• Olaniyi brought the lead back to five with 11:24 to go, hitting a three to put the Seawolves up 46-41.
• The Seawolves offense would be stymied in the final 11 minutes, hitting just one of the team's last 16 shots and scoring four points during that stretch.

NOTES

• The double double is Yeboah's seventh during conference play and his first in the last three contests.
• He reached double figures in scoring for the sixth consecutive night, while Olaniyi and Cornish made it to 10-plus points for the third and second straight game, respectively.
• Garcia has put up double figures in four of his last five games, averaging 12.4 points per game during that stretch.
• Olaniyi has continued his prowess on the boards, hauling in nine on the night. He has grabbed eight or more boards in four of his last six contests and is averaging just over seven per night over his last eight games.
• Holding Vermont to 20 points in the second half is the lowest total by a Seawolves opponent this season. The previous low was 23 by New Hampshire.

UP NEXT
The Seawolves battle for the second seed on Tuesday night when they take on Hartford at the Chase Arena in West Hartford, Conn. Stony Brook returns home for the America East Playoffs, hosting an opponent to be determined on Saturday, March 9 at 7 p.m.