WASHINGTON, D.C. – Stony Brook men's basketball continued its storybook run in the 2024 CAA Men's Basketball Championship, defeating No. 3 seed Hofstra 63-59 to earn its spot in the program's first-ever CAA Championship final.
With the win, the Seawolves advance to the CAA finals in just their second season in the conference, where they will face No. 1 seed Charleston in the championship game on Tuesday.
Tyler Stephenson-Moore led the Seawolves offensive attack with 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting, while
Chris Maidoh added 13 and
Aaron Clarke contributed 12.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Seawolves jumped out to an 8-3 lead on baskets with four different players hitting the scoring column before the under-16 media timeout.
- Hofstra then responded with an 8-0 run to grab the 11-8 lead at the 14:16 mark.
- Later in the half, Stony Brook went on a 12-1 run over 2:30, with the final eight points contributed by Stephenson-Moore, to take a 30-23 lead with 5:02 left to play.
- Hofstra grabbed seven of the final nine points of the half, cutting the Seawolves' lead to 32-30 after the first 20 minutes.
- The Seawolves took a 36-32 lead early in the second half, but Hofstra out-scored Stony Brook 12-5 over a span of 6:40 for a 44-41 Pride advantage with 11:19 to play.
- Stony Brook tied things three times in the following seven minutes, with Stephenson-Moore draining a three to knot the game at 51 with 4:37 left.
- After a 2:03 scoreless stretch, back-to-back buckets by Maidoh and Stephenson-Moore followed by a three from Noll put Stony Brook ahead 58-51 with 57 seconds remaining. Clarke made three free throws to push the lead to 10 at 46 seconds.
- Hofstra made a late run to get within three at 62-59 with 6.7 seconds to play, but Keenan Fitzmorris split two free throws to ice the game.
STATS AND NOTES
- Stony Brook advances to its sixth all-time conference tournament final at the Division I level, and its first since winning the 2016 America East Championship.
- Stony Brook is the first No. 7-seed to advance to the CAA tournament final since East Carolina in 1993 and marks the third time a 7-seed or lower has made the final.
- Monday's contest was closely contested throughout, with nine ties and eight lead changes.
- Hofstra was held to just 35.1% shooting, its lowest of the season.
- The Seawolves won the rebounding battle, 42-30, with the +12 margin marking their best since Stonehill on Dec. 6 which produced a +16 margin.
- Stephenson-Moore (9), Clarke (8) and Andre Snoddy (8) were SBU's top rebounders on Monday, combining for 25 of the team's 42 boards.
- Stony Brook was successful at the line, shooting 17-for-22 (77.3%) and making eight more free throws in total than the Pride.
- 14 of Stephenson-Moore's 23 points came in the first half.
- The Seawolves won their 20th game of the season, reaching 20 victories for the first time since the 2019-20 season, when they also garnered 20 triumphs.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
UP NEXT
Stony Brook plays for the 2023-24 CAA Championship title against No. 1 Charleston on Tuesday, March 12 with a 7 p.m. tipoff. The game will air on CBS Sports Network.
Charleston won the only regular-season meeting between the two sides in a 93-87 victory on Jan. 6 on Long Island. Should Stony Brook earn the victory tomorrow, it would be the first time a team has won the CAA Championship by defeating the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 seeds.
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