STONY BROOK, N.Y. — With less than eight minutes remaining and his team trailing by a point against UMass Lowell on Wednesday night, Stony Brook men's basketball coach Geno Ford began to draw up a play on his dry erase board during a media timeout.

Ford then erased it and replaced it with one word: TOUGHNESS.

Led by Elijah Olaniyi's career-high scoring effort, Ford's players responded. And Stony Brook went on to a 77-70 victory.
 
Olaniyi erupted for 33 points as Stony Brook improved to 16-8 overall and 7-2 in the America East.

Olaniyi's previous career high came in a 30-point performance against Brown on Dec. 7.

"I was aware toward the end of the game when I looked up at the scoreboard," Olaniyi said about setting a new career high. "But my teammates actually informed me. They were like, 'Hey, you've got 30.' That's when I knew."

Stony Brook trailed 52-51 when Olaniyi sparked a 7-0 run that gave the Seawolves the lead for good.

Olaniyi drew a foul and then converted a pair of free throws with 7:31 remaining for a 53-52 advantage.

Less than a minute later, Olaniyi drained a trey. And when Andrew Garcia produced a steal and raced to the basket for a dunk, Stony Brook's lead swelled to six points.

Olaniyi also contributed 10 rebounds to record his fifth double-double of the season — all in the past eight games.

The Seawolves earned the victory despite the absence of core player Miles Latimer, who was battling the flu.

They also had to hold on down the stretch without Jeff Otchere, who fouled out with 5:33 to go. And with Mouhamadou Gueye dealing with foul trouble that limited him to 12 minutes, Ford needed to employ an unconventional lineup in the final minutes.

Making his second career start, freshman Tyler Stephenson-Moore was among the players to step up. He finished with 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting in 32 minutes. His three-pointer with 54 seconds remaining opened an 11-point lead and sealed the victory.

"We had a hard time keeping normal lineups out there from what we're used to playing with," Ford said. "There was a time with two and a half minutes to go in the game that we had two freshmen in — Tyler and Tavin [Pierrre Philippe] along with Drew [Garcia], E [Olaniyi] and Makale [Foreman]. That's not a lineup we've used at crunch time once all year." 

The Seawolves swept the season series from UMass Lowell. Stony Brook had won in Massachusetts, 84-76, last Wednesday.

Stony Brook returns to action Saturday at New Hampshire.

"I was just happy we were able to gut it out," Ford said about Wednesday's win.