MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The Stony Brook men's basketball (4-9, 0-0 CAA) battled for 40 minutes and had four scorers reach double figures on Thursday night, but the Seawolves ultimately fell, 75-64, to the West Virginia Mountaineers (10-2, 0-0 Big 12) at WVU Coliseum.
Senior guard
Tyler Stephenson-Moore led the way offensively for the Seawolves, with 16 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists. The Jamaica, New York, native shot 7-of-7 from the free-throw line and tallied 40 minutes of play for the fouth-time this season.
With 8:51 left in the first half, freshman point guard Toby Oneykonwu pulled up from three-point range and drilled one of his three first-half three pointers off a West Virginia turnover, which tied the game at 17-17.
After West Virginia regained the lead with 6:19 left to play in the first off a pull-up jumper made by fifth-year guard Kedrian Johnson , Stony Brook fought back and traded blows heading into the halftime break. The Seawolves cut the deficit to just four after junior guard
Tanahj Pettway converted a driving layup off a defensive rebound from graduate forward
Frankie Policelli, Stony Brook trailed 28-24 at halftime.
On the first play of the second half, graduate center
Keenan Fitzmorris used all of his 7-foot frame to reject West Virginia's Jimmy Bell Jr. at the rim.
A few possessions later, Stephenson-Moore and Fitzmorris ran a give-and-go play, which led Stephenson-Moore to the basket for an easy layup, which cut the Seawolves' deficit to three points.
On Stony Brook's ensuing possession, Policelli splashed a long three pointer to cut the deficit back to one point at 33-32.
West Virginia regained control of the game once again before Stony Brook went back on a run of its own.
In isolation, Pettway spun to the basket for a finger-roll finish. Moments later, Pettway finished another layup, on a dish from Fitzmorris, and the Seawolves were on a 7-0 run and back within 10 points, 65-55.
The Seawolves were ultimately unable to overcome the deficit, despite battling for a full 40 minutes, falling to 4-9 overall on the year.
STATS AND NOTES
- Onyekonwu led the Seawolves with nine points in the first half. He drilled three shots from three-point range in the first frame. He finished the game with 11 points and three rebounds.
- Stephenson-Moore (16 points), junior forward Kenan Sarvan (13), Onyekonwu (11) and Pettway (10) all scored in double figures.
- Policelli totaled 11 rebounds in the first half and finished the game with 14 total, marking the seventh time this season the forward has grabbed 10 or more rebounds.
- Stony Brook shot a perfect 15-of-15 from the free-throw line, Stephenson-Moore (7-of-7), Fitzmorris (4-of-4), Sarvan (2-of-2) and Pettway (2-of-2) all went perfect at the stripe.
- The Seawolves and Mountaineers both totaled 33 team rebounds.
- This was Stony Brook's final nonconference game of the 2022-23 season.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"Proud of our effort as a team- multiple guys stepped up. We competed against a very good West Virginia team who will play in the NCAA tournament. Not the result we wanted, but we are getting better and I'm excited about the growth we've made as we head into conference play. Looking forward to letting our guys get home for a few days and then getting back to work," said head coach
Geno Ford.
NEXT UP
Stony Brook will open up CAA play for the first time in program history, when it travels to Northeastern on Saturday, Dec. 31. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on the CBS Sports Network.
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