STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Packed house. National television audience. Fans and players clad in red.

The Stony Brook men's basketball team had center stage on Thursday night as its aimed to sweep the season series from America East leader Vermont in an ESPNU-televised game.

Unfortunately for the Seawolves, Vermont grabbed the inside track to the league's regular-season title with a 63-54 victory over Stony Brook at sold-out Island Federal Arena. 

"I like where we're at," Stony Brook coach Geno Ford said. "Listen, that's a really good basketball team. We had a tremendous chance to beat a great team. The crowd was unbelievable. We appreciate everybody coming out. The energy was great. We played well for 34 minutes, 33 minutes. We couldn't get it across the wire. But it was a pretty big-time college basketball game."

Mouhamadou Gueye had given Stony Brook (17-10, 8-4 AE) its first lead of the game, 35-33, on a layup with 13 minutes, 28 seconds remaining in the second half. Makale Foreman then produced a steal and banked a pull-up three-pointer off the glass from beyond NBA range to cap a 10-0 run as the Seawolves claimed a five-point advantage.

The Catamounts went scoreless for nearly seven minutes during that stretch, but eventually pulled back ahead, 50-45, on a three-pointer from Everett Duncan.

That prompted a timeout from Ford with 4:10 remaining in the second half.

However, Vermont (22-6, 12-1 AE) pulled away late courtesy three additional three-pointers that were converted despite largely tight defense from the Seawolves.

Stony Brook had won the first meeting between the teams, 81-77, in Burlington on Jan. 8 as Elijah Olaniyi scored the tiebreaking basket with 26.0 seconds remaining on a driving layup in the paint.
 
It remains the Catamounts' only league loss this season. They have now won 12 straight.

This time, Olaniyi watched from the bench in a walking boot as the junior missed a second straight game while allowing an injury suffered Feb. 8 at New Hampshire time to mend.

In his absence, Andrew Garcia contributed a game-high 20 points on 6-for-9 shooting. Tyler Stephenson-Moore followed with 13 points.

Ford nonetheless lamented the Seawolves shooting 10-for-32 (31.3 percent) from inside the arc.

The Seawolves, who maintained a one-game lead for second place in the America East, return to action Saturday at 7 p.m. against Maine at Island Federal Arena.

"I felt like we gave our best effort," Garcia said about the loss to Vermont. "... I'm proud of everybody. They hit those tough shots."