TAMPA – The Stony Brook men's basketball team saw its season come to an end in the first round of the 2019 Roman College Basketball Invitational, falling 82-79 in overtime to South Florida at the Yuengling Center in front of 1,705 fans.
Senior
Jaron Cornish (Abaco, Bahamas) finished his career with one of his best games in a Stony Brook uniform, scoring 21 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and dishing six assists in 39 minutes of play. Redshirt-junior
Akwasi Yeboah (Chigwell, England) added 19 points with a pair of threes in 39 minutes of action as well.
FORD'S REACTION
"They came together and really played hard today. The second half was really unfortunate. They are a really good team and a good high-major team. We didn't shoot the ball very well and turnovers didn't help us in the second half. We just couldn't get to the wire with where we were with fouls and injuries."
HIGHLIGHTS
- The Seawolves jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the first four minutes and change after Yeboah hit all three of his free throws from the line.
- The teams went back and forth after that with an and-one putting the home team up 17-15.
- Stony Brook went on its big run after that, outscoring the Bulls 33-6 over a span of 8:35. Yeboah and Cornish each had seven during the run, with sophomore Elijah Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) scoring the most with nine.
- South Florida responded, scoring the last seven points of the first half and then 22 of the first 28 in the second 20 minutes.
- Neither team would lead by more than two after the hosts cut Stony Brook's lead to 56-54 with 7:53 left. The Bulls appeared to win the game at the buzzer but the layup was about a half second late.
- South Florida went up nine in the overtime with 1:38 to go and Stony Brook was able to chip the lead down to two but could not tie it up.
STATS/NOTES
- Cornish's 20-point game is his third of the season and fourth of his career.
- It was also the third double-double of his career, all of which have come in his senior season.
- Yeboah finishes the season with a streak of nine games in double figures after 19 tonight.
- In 33 games, the Seawolves finished with more rebounds than their opponent 28 times, including each of the team's last 12 games.
