ALBANY, N.Y. — Get your tickets for next Saturday's America East quarterfinal at Island Federal Arena.
With a 52-49 victory against rival UAlbany at SEFCU Arena, the Stony Brook men's basketball team clinched homecourt advantage at least for the conference tournament's opening round.
The Seawolves (19-11, 10-5 AE) can secure the America East's No. 2 seed with a win at UMBC on Tuesday, or with a loss by Hartford that night against Maine.
Stony Brook otherwise would be the third seed.
Against UAlbany on Saturday, the teams were deadlocked at 45 when
Miles Latimer, who came off the bench for the first time in five games, drained a tiebreaking three-pointer with 68 seconds remaining.
"It was a huge shot for him to hit," coach
Geno Ford said. "Hopefully it will give him some confidence and spark him down the stretch, because we need him right now."
"I knew after Mo passed it to me that it was my shot to take," Latimer added. "As soon as I shot it, I knew it was going in."
Makale Foreman then provided a two-possession lead by converting a pair of free throws with 25 seconds remaining.
After UAlbany again pulled back within three points, Foreman also drained two free throws, this time with nine seconds to go, to seal the victory for the Seawolves.
Foreman finished with a team-high 16 points.
Andrew Garcia had his fifth double-double of the season, tallying 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Tavin Pierre Philippe started for first time in his collegiate career.
The Seawolves played without leading scorer
Elijah Olaniyi for a fifth straight game as he mends an ankle injury.
"It wasn't a game that was going to light the scoreboard up necessarily," Ford said. "It was evenly matched teams. We were lucky we made one more play. Latimer hit a three. That was the difference."
As for the postseason, a
season ticket holder presale is underway. Any season seat not purchased for either the quarterfinal or semifinal game will be released to the general public on Monday at 5 p.m. Season ticket holders, Seawolves United members and partial plan holders will have the ability to purchase additional tickets at this time.
"It's just good to get a little momentum back," Ford said. "... We had a stranglehold on second the whole conference season and then just kind of shot ourselves in the foot with some home losses."
