STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Stony Brook men's basketball fell in its CAA home opener to William & Mary, 83-76, on Saturday afternoon at Stony Brook Arena.
CJ Luster II scored a game-high 22 points to lead a trio of double-digit scorers for the Seawolves in the loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Stony Brook and William & Mary traded blows early, with each side holding a lead during the opening three minutes of action.
- The Seawolves used an early 9-0 run to take a 19-11 lead, the largest gap between the two teams in the first half.
- The Tribe responded with an 11-2 run of their own, whittling the deficit to one point.
- William & Mary battled back to tie the game on two occasions, before regaining the lead on an Isaiah Mbeng triple with 5:30 to play in the first stanza.
- A Nick Woodard steal and score in transition put the Seawolves ahead again, 33-32, but the Tribe closed the half on a 10-4 run to take a 42-37 lead into the locker room.
- Andre Snoddy and Jared Frey opened the second-half scoring with back-to-back baskets, giving the Seawolves an advantage in the scoring column again.
- The Seawolves maintained a lead until the 12-minute mark when the Tribe used a 7-2 run to even the score at 58 apiece.
- William & Mary fell behind again, but took control of the lead with 9:23 to play and never trailed from that point on.
- Stony Brook leveled the contest once more, but could not overcome the deficit. The Tribe's Isaiah Mbeng buried an end-of-shot-clock three-pointer with 67 seconds remaining in the contest to ice the game.
STATS AND NOTES
- Luster's 22 points were a game high. He reached the 20-point mark for the fourth time this season and eclipsed double-digit points for the 10th time this season.
- Frey scored a season-best 18 points, one shy of matching his career-best effort. He connected on 7-of-15 shots from the floor.
- Ben Wight totaled 13 points, tallying double-digit points for the eighth time this year.
- The Tribe were paced offensively by five scorers in double figures, led by Mbeng's 15 points.
- Stony Brook shot 45 percent from the floor as a team and outrebounded William & Mary 35-28. The Tribe shot better than 50 percent as a team and were helped out by 38 points from their bench.
- The lead changed hands 13 times in the contest and was tied on nine different occasions. Stony Brook led for more than 19 minutes of game action, while the Tribe held a lead for 17-plus minutes in the contest.
- Saturday afternoon marked the fifth all-time meeting between Stony Brook and William & Mary. The Seawolves moved to 3-2 all-time against the Tribe with today's result.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"Give William & Mary credit, they were able to score in crunch time with some big shots. We had the ball four straight times in the last three minutes and had plenty of chances to take the lead and weren't able to score," head coach Geno Ford said. "We are getting better, which is encouraging, but we haven't found anyone who can deliver big baskets for us in crunch time. Once we can get that, we will start to win these types of games."
UP NEXT
Stony Brook continues its three-game homestand, hosting Drexel on Thursday, January 9. The Seawolves and Dragons tip-off at 7 pm from Stony Brook Arena, with the contest airing live on SNY and streaming on FloCollege.
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