Game 32: No. 2 Stony Brook (24-7) vs. No. 7 Binghamton (9-22) - America East Quarterfinals
LOCATION	Island Federal Arena | Stony Brook, N.Y.
DATE | TIME	Saturday, March 9 | 7 p.m.
TICKETS	Buy Now
COVERAGE	Live Stats  | Watch Live | Listen Live
GAME NOTES	Stony Brook | Binghamton | Championship Notes | Digital Guide
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STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The Stony Brook men's basketball team begins its postseason journey on Saturday night, hosting No. 7 Binghamton in the quarterfinal round of the 2019 America East Men's Basketball Playoffs.
 
THE OPPONENT
Binghamton enters the 2019 America East Playoffs as the seven seed after a 73-58 loss at the hands of Albany on Tuesday night in Vestal, N.Y. Chancellor Barnard led three Bearcats in double figures, scoring 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting while also hauling in seven rebounds. J.C. Show and Caleb Stewart each hit a pair of threes, finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
2019 America East Rookie of the Year Sam Sessoms is the team's leading scorer, pouring in 18.1 points per night while dishing off 3.5 assists. Caleb Stewart is second on the team leaderboard, scoring 11.5 points per game. The Bearcats don't foul, committing the sixth-fewest fouls in the country. They are also inside the Top 25 in blocks, swatting a league-leading 143 shots this season.
 
THE SERIES
Stony Brook has won 42 of the 69 overall meetings in a series that dates back to 1962-63 when Binghamton was known as Harpur College. The Seawolves won both matchups this season, sweeping the season series for the sixth time in the last nine years. Stony Brook has also won all four postseason matchups between the two schools.

TROPHY CHASING
A pair of Seawolves were given major awards from the America East on Friday morning, as Andrew Garcia (Harlem, N.Y.) won Sixth Man of the Year and Jeff Otchere (Bronx, N.Y.) was named Defensive Player of the Year.  Garcia is the first Seawolves player to win the honor since it was brought into the league in the 2013-14 season and Otchere is the fifth Seawolves player to win the award in the last nine seasons. Along with the awards, Akwasi Yeboah (Chigwell, England) was named to the league's First Team, Elijah Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) was a Third Team honoree and Miles Latimer (Fairfax, Va.) was donned All-Rookie.
 
SECOND IS… OPTIMAL
Stony Brook is the only team in the America East to secure a top two position in seven of the last eight seasons and being in that spot has been key to the Seawolves' success in the postseason. In six of those seasons, Stony Brook has made a semifinal appearance while a spot in the championship game has occurred four times in the last eight seasons when Stony Brook has been a two seed, including the team's America East Championship in 2016.
 
ROAD TOUGH
The Seawolves are tied with UC Irvine for the most wins on the road this season, accumulating 13 in true road contests. They are taking the home defensive toughness with them, allowing teams to score just 65 points and shoot 38 percent from the field. Stony Brook is also winning the battle on the glass when playing away from home, grabbing 40.1 rebounds per contest and outrebounding their welcoming hosts by 4.7 per night.
 
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 in conference play, limiting their opposition to 27.5 percent from beyond the 3-point line, which leads the conference. In all games this season, Stony Brook ranks 11th nationally, holding teams to 29.8 percent
from downtown.
 
KARDIAC KIDS
The Seawolves have been able to win the close ones this season en route to the team's winningest season under Jeff Boals. After Tuesday's five-point victory against Hartford, Stony Brook has now won eight games by five points or less, going 8-2 in those contests. Overall, 18 games have been decided by single digits, with wins coming in 13 of those contests.
 
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 nine games, helping the Seawolves to a 6-2 record during this span. He is averaging 14 points and 7.3 rebounds since the start of February, a stretch that was started by a 28-point performance against Hartford on February 2.
 
BASKET MORE THAN HALF FULL
For the fifth time this season, the Seawolves reached the 50 percent mark from the field, making 28 of the team's 56 shots from the field en route to 68 points and a five-point victory against Hartford. 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 four games, they are over three points higher than the season average, hitting 45.3 percent of shots from the field.

UP NEXT
With a win tonight, the Seawolves will host the America East semifinals on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. against the second-lowest remaining seed. For tickets, click here or call 631-632-WOLF (9653).