STONY BROOK, N.Y. — The Stony Brook men's basketball team made a dramatic push on Tuesday night inside rocking Island Federal Arena.
Unfortunately for the second-seeded Seawolves, Hartford withstood the comeback bid and prevailed, 64-58, in an America East semifinal matchup.
Third-seeded Hartford advances to face top-seeded Vermont in Saturday's championship game.
The Seawolves nonetheless have enjoyed a banner season. The accomplishments include producing 20 wins for the second straight year. And the future is bright with essentially the entire team poised to return for 2020-21.
"The disappointment is really fresh right now," coach
Geno Ford said. "You want to not lose your last game. And you certainly don't want to do it at home, in front of your home fans. We had an unbelievable atmosphere. The place was rocking."
Mouhamadou Gueye's driving layup pulled Stony Brook even at 47 with 6 minutes, 50 seconds remaining.
Elijah Olaniyi then produced a steal and drained a three-pointer at the other end as the Seawolves grabbed their first lead since holding a 9-8 advantage early in the first half.
Hartford had held a 41-28 lead with 14 minutes to go. The Seawolves then mounted an 11-0 run to pull within one possession and electrify the crowd. The final six points of the spurt came from Olaniyi.
However, Hunter Marks' three-pointer with 49 seconds remaining gave Hartford a six-point lead and all but secured the win.
"Honestly, this team is probably the best I've ever played on," Gueye said. "Every possession we had, these guys threw their life on the line and everything. I wouldn't rather play on any team than this one."
The Hawks (18-15) also won both regular-season meetings between the teams.
The Seawolves (20-13) found themselves trailing by as many as a 14 points during the first half and 31-19 at the break. Stony Brook shot 0-for-9 from three-point range before intermission.
"We couldn't make a shot all night," Ford said. "They shot incredibly well. And we had a one-point lead with three minutes to go and just didn't make a big play at that stage when we needed to. We had multiple chances. We got it to the rim three times and didn't convert. That's hard to overcome.
"All that said, when you step back and you look big picture, which is hard to do right now, but you look at it and you go, 'OK, we were one of six teams in the country that didn't have a senior. We played the 26th-hardest nonleague schedule in the country. Our worst loss nonleague, on paper, is to a 22-win Delaware team in the CAA. We won 20 games, and they did it the hard way. It was a hard schedule. They grinded it. They found a way. We finished second in our league.'"
Still, Ford noted the goal is to win the league and earn the America East's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
"Listen, you want to finish first," he said. "That's why you compete, is to finish first. But I don't feel like there's anybody in our locker room that should be hanging their head over the season. We're heading into next year with a big senior class. They certainly will be hungry to take that next step forward.
"But I think everybody knows we're right on the edge of it. And that's the frustrating part, because it could have happened this year."
