STONY BROOK, N.Y. – With 4:37 left in the game, Sacred Heart had the ball up eight and was looking to ice away Stony Brook's men's basketball team's hope of a home-opening win.
The Seawolves locked in, and Anthony Roberts brought it to a memorable conclusion, as the redshirt junior drilled a right wing three as the horn sounded and the hosts won 75-72 on opening night at Island Federal Arena in front of 2403 fans.
Geno Ford's club jumped ahead in the first half, swiping nine steals and forcing 11 Sacred Heart turnovers en route to a six-point lead at the break.
Tykei Greene highlighted the 10-0 run with a thunderous dunk as part of his 11-point, 14-rebound performance. The Manhattan transfer set a new career high with the 14 boards.
The visiting Pioneers went on a 21-8 run in the first eight minutes of the half, making 10 of their 15 shots to go up 57-50. After Greene cut the lead to two at 63-61, the Pioneers' 6-0 spurt had them eight points ahead but then the Stony Brook defense locked down, holding them to three points on 1-for-5 shooting the rest of the way. Greene's 14th and final rebound secured the Seawolves' possession with 52 seconds left and
Jahlil Jenkins tied it nine seconds later, setting up the dramatic finish.
STATS AND NOTES
- Stony Brook finished the game with five student-athletes scoring in double figures. It marked the first time since February 13, 2021, at Vermont that the Seawolves had five score in double-digits.
- The Seawolves closed the game on a 14-3 run over the final 5:11, which was capped off by Roberts' game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer. Stony Brook outscored Sacred Heart 8-0 over the final 2:58 of the contest.
- The 75 points were the most that Stony Brook scored at home since it tallied 76 points on March 7, 2020, when it defeated UAlbany, 76-73, in the America East quarterfinals.
- Roberts scored a team-high 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field, which included going 3-of-4 from three-point range. Roberts clinched the Seawolves' first win of the season with his three-pointer to beat the buzzer. The 15 points are the most he has scored in a game for Stony Brook.
- Graduate guard Jahlil Jenkins scored 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting, dished out six assists, and swiped three steals. His 14 points and six assists were both season-highs.
- Redshirt junior guard Tykei Greene recorded his sixth career-double with the 11 points and 14 rebounds. It was his first double-double since February 21, 2021, against UAlbany.
- Graduate guard Elijah Olaniyi poured in a season-high 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field. Redshirt sophomore forward Frankie Policelli added 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting, went 3-of-6 from behind the arc, and pulled down five rebounds.
- The Seawolves led 42-36 after the first half of play. The 42 points were the most that Stony Brook scored in the first half of a game this season.
- Stony Brook knocked down seven three-pointers in the win and have converted at least six three-pointers in each of its first three games of the season.
- Stony Brook and Sacred Heart met for the first time since December 18, 2012. It marked the 22nd time in history that the teams went head-to-head. The Seawolves earned their sixth win over the Pioneers and their first since December 18, 2012.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"We wanted to go at six seconds which we did. I didn't want them to have a chance to touch the ball. The last five minutes of the game, we outplayed them, which was close to the only time we were able to outplay them. Some of that was them missing shots but some of it was us ratcheting up our intensity and doing a really good job on both ends. I give Anthony a ton of credit and those were big, big shots. It looked in as soon as he shot it. I had a view from behind and as soon as he caught it and released it, it didn't even look like it was going to hit the net. That's how good it looked to me" - head coach Geno Ford.
"The play was originally for Jahlil but I was just putting it in his head that if he wasn't open, I was going to be there. I told the bench that if I got it, it was going to be green. We were telling each other to keep fighting. That's stuff Coach keeps preaching to us in practice and we just kept telling ourselves to keep fighting, even though we were down" - guard Anthony Roberts on the final moments of the game.
"I'm big on positioning and just putting myself in a good position to grab a rebound. I let my athleticism take care of the rest. I hold myself pretty high on the defensive end and I'm just trying to get a stop and put my team in a position to win. I still think we can play better defense but that's coming along" - guard Tykei Greene on his career high in rebounding and the team's defense going forward.
NEXT UP
Stony Brook hits the road for a pair of games in Connecticut. The Seawolves first travel to Fairfield, Conn. to face the Fairfield Stags on Wednesday, November 24, at 2 p.m., on ESPN3. Following the meeting with the Stags, Stony Brook closes out Thanksgiving weekend at Yale on Sunday, November 28, at 1 p.m., on NESN.
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