HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — The Stony Brook men's basketball team held Hofstra scoreless for nearly seven minutes during the second half of the 2020-21 edition of the Battle of Long Island.

Unfortunately for the Seawolves, the spirited comeback bid came up narrowly short.

Hofstra held on to defeat Stony Brook, 72-67, at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex on Wednesday night.

The Seawolves used a 14-0 run to close within 60-51 midway through the second half. They eventually clawed within three points on a layup from Jaden Sayles with 3:08 remaining after trailing by as many as 23 points earlier in the period.

A one-possession game in the final two minutes, Juan Felix Rodriguez was whistled for an offensive foul and Hofstra (2-2) answered at the other end  with a jumper from Jalen Ray to open a 66-61 lead.

That proved Stony Brook's final possesion with a chance to tie.

Frankie Policelli finished with a team-high 16 points in the defeat. Tykei Greene and Mouhamadou Gueye had 12 points apiece, while Sayles added 10. Gueye also contributed 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
 
Policelli's three-pointer 2:03 into the game had staked Stony Brook to an 8-7 lead. However, the Pride responded with a 12-0 run and maintained the lead the rest of the way.

The Seawolves went scoreless for 4:53 during that stretch. They shot 9-for-30 (30.0 percent) in the first half as Hofstra took a 42-29 lead into intermission.

Stony Book (1-3) returns to action Saturday when it faces Bryant at 1 p.m. in Smithfield, R.I.

"Hopefully we can build on the last 30 minutes of the game," coach Geno Ford said about the Hofstra matchup. " I thought we really competed hard and had a good understanding of the level of physicality required to be successful.  For our group, every experience is a new one.  We had to get one stop inside of a minute and we had them strung out with nothing going, but a kid made a difficult runner on the baseline.  We just have to stick with the process of improving over the next month."