HAMPTON, Va. – The Stony Brook men's basketball team (8-14, 4-5 CAA), led by a second half explosion from graduate forward
Frankie Policelli, stormed past the Hampton Pirates (5-17, 2-8 CAA) on Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center to pick up a 71-66 victory.
Policelli scored a career-high 34 points, shooting 11-of-20 from the floor and 12-of-14 from the free-throw line. The New Hartford, New York, native exploded for 31 points in the final 20 minutes, shooting 11-of-16 from the field and 9-of-10 from the line in the second stanza.
Policelli also hauled in 12 rebounds, giving him his team-leading eighth double-double of the season.
The Seawolves trailed the Pirates, 37-30, at halftime and used a second half comeback to upend Hampton. Stony Brook began the frame on a 12-4 run to regain the lead and backed by Policelli they never looked back.
Policelli fooled Hampton freshman forward Kyrese Martin with his pump fake and step-through move that gave the Seawolves the lead with less than 14 minutes remaining.
At that point, Policelli had scored 10 points in the half. The graduate helped maintain control of the lead and continued to build on it. He also got help from freshman forward
Leon Nahar, who splashed the second three-pointer of his career.
The Seawolves opened the second half on a 27-9 run and built a lead of up to 13 points, at 65-52.
Policelli exploded in the second half scoring 31 of the Seawolves' 41 points. The team shot 55.6 percent from the field and 71.4 percent from the free-throw line in the second stanza.
With the victory, Stony Brook picked up its fourth conference win of the season.
STATS AND NOTES
- Policelli's 34 points are tied for the second-most points scored in a game this season by any player in the CAA. Northeastern's Coleman Stucke also scored 34 points at Delaware on January 28. He set a career-high in points (34), field goals made (11), field goals attempted (20), free-throws made (12), and free-throws attempted (14).
- Policelli led the team in scoring for the eighth time this season and led the team in rebounding for the 17th time.
- Freshman guard Toby Onyekonwu also scored in double figures as he dropped 11 points, and pulled down a career-high seven rebounds. Onyekonwu set a new career-high with five field goals made and 37 minutes played.
- Eight players appeared in the game for Stony Brook, and all eight scored: Policelli (34 points), Onyekonwu (11), sophomore guard Kaine Roberts (6), Nahar (6), junior forward Kenan Sarvan (5), freshman center Rocco Muratori (4), junior guard Tanahj Pettway (3), and graduate center Keenan Fitzmorris (2).
- Stony Brook shot 47 percent from the field in the game and held Hampton to shoot 35 percent as a team.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"Great team win for us. I couldn't be prouder of how we competed and found a way to win tonight. A lot of guys made huge plays and were factors in the game, but Frankie's second half is the best 20 minutes of offensive basketball I've been a part of. Our guys are competing and battling as hard as they can," said head coach
Geno Ford.
NEXT UP
Stony Brook will return home to face-off against the Elon Phoenix on Thursday, Feb. 2. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on SNY and FloHoops. Stony Brook is 2-0 against Elon in the all-time series.
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