PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Senior
Tyler Stephenson-Moore continued his scorching week, as the New York native dropped a career-high and team-best 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field, but the Stony Brook men's basketball team was not able to turn it into a victory as they fell to Brown, 64-53, on Thursday night in Pizzitola Sports Center.
The Seawolves jumped out early, as Stephenson-Moore scored the first five points for the squad to take a 5-0 lead. Shortly later, freshman guard
Toby Onyekonwu dished the ball to junior guard
Tanahj Pettway who converted from beyond the arc to give Stony Brook a 22-14 advantage.
With 5:39 left to play in the first half, graduate center
Keenan Fitzmorris collected a layup in the paint to give the squad a 26-18 lead, tying their largest margin of the half. The Stanford transfer had his best performance for Stony Brook, as the Kansas native put up a career-high 14 points.
The Bears were able to claw their way back late in the first half and whittled the Seawolves' lead to one point, 31-30, with 20:00 minutes remaining in the contest. The squad held Brown to just 4-of-23 shooting from distance and 11-of-37 from the field in the first half.
Stony Brook continued to hold off the surge from Brown with Stephenson-Moore capturing the first three points of the second half and a layup by sophomore guard
Kaine Roberts gave the Seawolves a 36-34 lead at 17:34. However, this was the final lead that Long Island's team would hold, as the Bears clawed their way back by out-shooting the squad with six threes and collecting 17 points off turnovers to ultimately give Brown the victory, 64-53.
STATS AND NOTES
- Stephenson-Moore collected a career-high 20 points and seven rebounds in the defeat. The senior smashed his career-high in his last three games, finishing with 16 points against Rhode Island and 14 vs. Miami Hamilton.
- Fitzmorris also had a career-high, as the big man finished with 14 points and four rebounds in his 31 minutes of play. It was the first time this season that the Stanford transfer finished perfect from the field (6-6).
- Pettway led all bench players with six points, three boards and an assist in his 24 minutes on the court.
- Graduate forward Frankie Policelli tallied six points and pulled down seven rebounds in 27 minutes of play.
- This was the ninth matchup between the two teams, with the Seawolves leading the series 5-4.
- Stony Brook starters scored 45 of the 53 points this evening.
- Brown's 53 points were the least amount of points that the Seawolves defense has allowed this season.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"Guys battled hard. It's not an issue of effort. It's impossible to win on the road with 13 turnovers from the guards and shooting 0-of-8 from three-point range in the second half as a team. They wore us down with the pace of the game and made some big threes in the second half," said head coach
Geno Ford.
UP NEXT
The Seawolves have the weekend off and will return to the court in Miami, Florida, to battle in the Florida International Tournament. The squad will play their first game of the tournament against the host, Florida International University on Wednesday, November 23. Tip-off is set off 7
p.m.
