Seawolves match best America East start ever.
Stony Brook, N.Y. - Sophomore Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) scored a game-high 20 points and junior Muhammad El-Amin (Lansing, Mich.) added 16 to lead the Stony Brook men's basketball team to a 58-47 victory over the Albany Great Danes on Thursday night at Pritchard Gymnasium. The Seawolves improved to 14-11 with the win, its most victories since joining the America East in 2001-02. Stony Brook also improved to 6-6 in the America East, matching its best conference start ever.
"I couldn't be happier with the effort and toughness our guys played with tonight," Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said. "Our defense was terrific all night long and we made enough plays down the stretch to get a victory against a very good Albany team."
The America East Player of the Game for Stony Brook, Martin went 6-for-15 from the field and 8-for-10 from the foul line. Senior Demetrius Young (Sacramento, Calif.) added 10 points for the Seawolves, who forced Albany into 21 turnovers. Tim Ambrose scored a game-high 14 points for the Great Danes and was named their America East Player of the Game.
Albany jumped to an early 4-2 lead but the Seawolves then went on an 8-0 run, capped by an alley-oop from El-Amin to Young with 12:36 remaining, to take a six-point lead. Back-to-back hoops from Martin extended the SBU advantage to 10 with 11:15 left before Brian Connelly hit a jumper to end a scoring drought of 6:39 for Albany.
The Great Danes would eventually climb within three on a Brett Gifford hoop with six and a half minutes remaining in the half but Martin answered with a jumper to push the SBU lead back to five. Albany responded with five straight points though, tying it on another Gifford basket with a minute and a half left until halftime.
"I couldn't be happier with the effort and toughness our guys played with tonight," Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said. "Our defense was terrific all night long and we made enough plays down the stretch to get a victory against a very good Albany team."
The America East Player of the Game for Stony Brook, Martin went 6-for-15 from the field and 8-for-10 from the foul line. Senior Demetrius Young (Sacramento, Calif.) added 10 points for the Seawolves, who forced Albany into 21 turnovers. Tim Ambrose scored a game-high 14 points for the Great Danes and was named their America East Player of the Game.
Albany jumped to an early 4-2 lead but the Seawolves then went on an 8-0 run, capped by an alley-oop from El-Amin to Young with 12:36 remaining, to take a six-point lead. Back-to-back hoops from Martin extended the SBU advantage to 10 with 11:15 left before Brian Connelly hit a jumper to end a scoring drought of 6:39 for Albany.
The Great Danes would eventually climb within three on a Brett Gifford hoop with six and a half minutes remaining in the half but Martin answered with a jumper to push the SBU lead back to five. Albany responded with five straight points though, tying it on another Gifford basket with a minute and a half left until halftime.
An Anthony Raffa hoop seconds later would give Albany its first lead since the early going but Young completed a three-point play with nine seconds remaining to send the Seawolves into the break with a 20-19 lead. Martin scored a game-high eight points in the opening 20 minutes for SBU, which held Albany to 31.8 percent shooting in the first half.
Albany scored six of the first eight points of the second half to grab a three-point lead before El-Amin knocked down a fade-away jumper to draw the Seawolves within one. Connelly would answer with a jumper but freshman Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) followed with a three from the right wing to kick start an 8-0 run that put the Seawolves up 32-27 with 13:31 remaining.
The Great Danes would close to within one on a Will Harris hoop with 10:20 left before El-Amin knocked down two free throws to push the Stony Brook advantage back to three. But Albany responded with four straight points, taking a 39-38 lead on a Tim Ambrose tip-in with 9:17 remaining. The Seawolves would eventually regain the lead on a Martin jumper with just over seven minutes left and Young then followed with a three to put SBU up 44-39 with six and a half minutes left.
Stony Brook still led by just three, 48-45, with 3:44 remaining but Martin hit two free throws and El-Amin then followed with a long jumper to put the Seawolves up by seven with 2:43 to go in the game. Albany would get as close as five in the final two minutes but Martin knocked four free throws over the final minute to seal Stony Brook's first regular season sweep of the Great Danes since 2004.
The Seawolves return to action on Sunday, traveling to take on the Vermont Catamounts. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
Albany scored six of the first eight points of the second half to grab a three-point lead before El-Amin knocked down a fade-away jumper to draw the Seawolves within one. Connelly would answer with a jumper but freshman Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) followed with a three from the right wing to kick start an 8-0 run that put the Seawolves up 32-27 with 13:31 remaining.
The Great Danes would close to within one on a Will Harris hoop with 10:20 left before El-Amin knocked down two free throws to push the Stony Brook advantage back to three. But Albany responded with four straight points, taking a 39-38 lead on a Tim Ambrose tip-in with 9:17 remaining. The Seawolves would eventually regain the lead on a Martin jumper with just over seven minutes left and Young then followed with a three to put SBU up 44-39 with six and a half minutes left.
Stony Brook still led by just three, 48-45, with 3:44 remaining but Martin hit two free throws and El-Amin then followed with a long jumper to put the Seawolves up by seven with 2:43 to go in the game. Albany would get as close as five in the final two minutes but Martin knocked four free throws over the final minute to seal Stony Brook's first regular season sweep of the Great Danes since 2004.
The Seawolves return to action on Sunday, traveling to take on the Vermont Catamounts. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
