NEWARK, Del. — Stony Brook men's basketball dropped a road contest to Delaware, 84-74, on Thursday evening at the Bob Carpenter Center.
Joe Octave and
CJ Luster II combined to score 43 points, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Blue Hens' offense.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Stony Brook played well early on, jumping out to a lead and holding an advantage in the scoring column over the opening five minutes of action.
- After Delaware used back-to-back three-point makes to go ahead, the Seawolves answered with back-to-back triples of their own courtesy of Leon Nahar and Luster. A Nick Woodard basket bookended an 8-0 run by Stony Brook that put the Seawolves ahead, 19-14, at the 11:22 mark.
- Stony Brook went nearly three minutes without a basket, allowing the Blue Hens to regain the lead. Jared Frey connected from deep to push the Seawolves back ahead, 22-21.
- The contest continued to go back and forth, seeing the lead change hands once more in favor of Delaware. Stony Brook flipped things with a 9-2 run over a two-minute span to turn a two-point deficit into a four-point lead.
- The Blue Hens closed out the final four minutes of the first half with a 10-6 scoring run to take a 39-37 lead into the locker room.
- Octave opened the second half scoring with a basket inside to even the score before Delaware took control of the contest.
- The Blue Hens built a double-digit lead less than nine minutes into the second half, maintaining a comfortable lead for the remainder of regulation.
- A six-point spurt brought Stony Brook within seven points of Delaware with nine minutes to play, but it was as close as they would come for the rest of the evening.
- Delaware led by as many as 17 at one point; Stony Brook battled back but time ran out on the Seawolves' late push.
STATS AND NOTES
- Octave scored a game-high 23 points, finishing a point shy of matching a season-high effort in the scoring column. Octave shot 8-of-18 from the floor and converted on 6-of-7 at the charity stripe. It was his third 20-point effort of the season.
- Luster extended his streak of scoring 20 or more points to four straight games. He shot 5-of-7 overall, 4-for-6 from three point range and finished a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line.
- Andre Snoddy rounded out the Seawolves' double-digit scorers, adding 10 points.
- As a unit offensively, Stony Brook shot 47 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc. The Seawolves field goal percentage was its third highest of the year, while the 40 percent mark from three was the fourth-best effort of the season.
- Delaware dominated inside, doubling up Stony Brook in paint points, 44-22. The Blue Hens also finished with a plus-12 margin on the glass, 39-27.
- The contest featured 10 lead changes. Stony Brook led for a little more than 10 minutes of game action, while Delaware led for 25-plus minutes.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"Offensively, we did some good stuff. Delaware has a nice team and both their high-major transfers played like it. We had zero answer for Lane or Camden," head coach
Geno Ford said. "I am really disappointed in our rebounding, because that's not a strength of their team and we have been one of the better offensive rebounding teams in our conference so far. Tonight, that didn't show up. We have no consistency as a group right now. Saturday is a big test against a team picked by many to win the conference."
UP NEXT
Stony Brook stays on the road, heading to Maryland to take on CAA preseason favorite Towson on Saturday, January 18. The Seawolves and Tigers tip-off at 2:00 pm from TU Arena, with the contest streaming on FloCollege.
For an inside look at the Seawolves men's basketball program, be sure to follow them on Facebook,
Twitter, and
Instagram.
