DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Seawolves officially took third place in the Geico Sunshine Slam after pulling off the 61-54 comeback victory over Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday. With the win, Stony Brook claims third place in the Ocean Bracket of the Sunshine Slam.
How It Happened
- Stony Brook was held scoreless through the first three minutes of the game until Erik Pratt came through with a floater. Then, at 16:18, Collin O'Connor would follow up with a three-pointer to put the Seawolves in front 5-4. Over the next two minutes, Pratt would add a three of his own, plus a fast-break dunk to grow the lead to 10-6 with under 14 to play.
- After a 6-0 run for the Wildcats briefly put them back in front, Stony Brook responded with eight unanswered, featuring a Rob Brown III three-pointer and a four from the line for Andrej Shoshkikj to make it 17-12 with just under 10 minutes remaining.
- Later, with Stony Brook leading 19-15 with seven to play, BCU scored 15 in a row over the rest of the half to take a 30-19 lead.
- The Seawolves opened the second half strong, quickly getting layups from Quin Gorman and O'Connor, before Pratt added another from deep to cut the deficit down to 32-26. The hot scoring continued as a driving layup from O'Connor eventually made it a two-point game at 37-35 with under 13 remaining.
- At 11:23, Tomas Valentiny made it a one-point game at 39-38 with his first triple of the day. Stony Brook would continue to trail until 8:19 when Valentiny came through with the cleanup slam to tie it at 42-42.
- After keeping it close for the next few minutes, Gorman gave Stony Brook the lead for the first time since the first half with a tip-in layup to make it 48-46. The Wildcats quickly re-tied it, only for Ethan Simmon to knock down a three to put the Seawolves back in front 51-48 with under four minutes remaining. He would then make two more over the next two minutes to extend the lead to 57-52 with 1:39 on the clock, giving the Seawolves just enough of a buffer to hold on for the win.
Stats and Notes
- After shooting just 23.1% from the field and 17.6% from deep in the first half, Stony Brook bounced back and shot 48.4% on field goals and 46.2% on threes.
- Pratt finished the day as Stony Brook's leading scorer with 14 points, giving him double-digit points for the fifth time in six games to start the season. He also became the first Seawolf to top 100 points this year, ending the day with 104. Pratt also tied Valentiny for the team lead in rebounds with eight.
- Simmon had his best game yet this year with 13 points after going 3-for-5 from behind the arc and 4-for-5 from the line.
- O'Connor notched his second double-digit scoring game with 13 points.
Up Next
With the tournament portion of the Geico Sunshine Slam Challenge complete, the Seawolves now head to Los Angeles, Calif. to face Loyola Marymount on Friday, November 28 at 10 p.m. (ET) to close out the event. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
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