STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The Stony Brook men's basketball team (10-18, 6-9 CAA) picked up its second home victory in a row inside The Island tonight, February 16, after defeating William & Mary (10-18, 5-10 CAA) 71-66. The Seawolves edged the Tribe in overtime, their first overtime game of the season and first overtime win since December 20, 2020, when Stony Brook defeated Binghamton on the road, 80-70.
The Seawolves were paced by three student athletes, as senior Tyler Stephenson Moore, and graduate students Keenan Fitzmorris and Frankie Policelli combined for 44 points by each tallying double figures. Also, all nine Seawolves contributed at least one point in the victory for the first time this season.
Stephenson-Moore got the Seawolves going early, capturing four of the team's first six points after an emphatic dunk gave Stony Brook a 6-1 lead to start. Later on in the half, Stephenson-Moore and freshman Leon Nahar captured back-to-back threes to give the squad a double-digit lead and extend their 15-4 spurt with 8:36 in the half. Junior guard Tanahj Pettway and junior forward Keenan Sarvan cashed in on back-to-back threes with 3:38 left in the half to give the Seawolves their largest lead, 29-18.
The defense was stellar for Stony Brook in the first half as they held William & Mary to 36.0 percent from the field compared to the Seawolves' 47.8 percent. The Tribe, who came into the contest shooting 37.1 percent from three this season, which is second in the CAA, was held to just 1-of-6 from three in the first half.
In the second half, the Tribe and Seawolves battled back and forth as William & Mary found their success from the field. Policelli captured the first four points for the squad in the frame, keeping Stony Brook in the lead. After the Tribe cut the lead to two points with 16:15 left, Stephenson-Moore captured two long shots, and Fitzmorris collected two blocks, one that led to a huge dunk to give the Seawolves an 8-0 run and a 42-32 lead with 13:45 remaining.
The Tribe would not give up as they cut the deficit down to 59-55 with 6:41 remaining in the game. Following a block by Policelli with 3:48 left, sophomore guard Kaine Roberts came down the court and made a three pointer to give Stony Brook a seven point lead with 3:21 left. But, William & Mary went on a 4-0 run in the final 1:07 to tie the game at 62-62. Jack Karasinski nailed a three pointer, Anders Nelson made two free throws after a Stony Brook intentional foul, and Ben Wight made a second chance layup with .12 seconds to force overtime.
With all the momentum on the Tribe's side, the Stony Brook defense was stellar in overtime as they held William & Mary scoreless for the first three minutes and 44 seconds to begin and allowed just four points on 2-of-7 shooting in frame, while forcing three turnovers to secure the victory.
Policelli began the overtime with a layup and Fitzmorris followed with a hook-shot to extend the lead to four. Shortly later, Roberts made a fade away bucket to give the Seawolves a six point lead, their largest lead of the frame. Following a Fitzmorris steal, Pettway sunk two free throws and Stephenson-Moore cashed in on his two free throws with 8.9 seconds remaining to secure the victory.
STATS AND NOTES
- The Seawolves had three scorers reach double figures in the game (Stephenson-Moore, Fitzmorris, and Policelli).
- Policelli hauled in a team-high 10 rebounds and captured 13 points. He tallied his team-leading 11th double-double of the season.
- Fitzmorris tallied double-digits for the fourth time in the past five games. In his last three games off the bench, Fitzmorris is averaging 15.0 points per game and collected a career high four blocks.
- Stephenson-Moore played a career-high 44 minutes and tallied a team-high 17 points. The senior also dished out a team-best five assists and grabbed three rebounds.
- Pettway recorded six points off the bench, three steals, and six rebounds in his season-high 39 minutes on the floor.
- Stony Brook was 9-of-19 from three point range for 47 percent which was the second-best for Stony Brook this season (11-of-20 for 55 percent against Yale on 12/03/22).
- The Seawolves outscored the Tribe, 26-9, off the bench.
- Stony Brook recorded eight blocks, while William & Mary did not record a block.
- For the first time this season, all nine Seawolves who saw action recorded a point.
- Stony Brook moves to 1-1 all-time, with both matchups coming this season, against William & Mary.
- This was the first overtime game for Stony Brook since Nov. 24, 2021 at Fairfield where the Seawolves fell, 83-78.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
NEXT UP
Stony Brook will remain home to face Hofstra in its final home game of the season on Saturday, February 18. Tip-off is set for 6:31 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on SNY and FloHoops.
For an inside look at the Seawolves men's basketball program, be sure to follow them on Facebook,
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