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Saturday, December 5, 2009

Men's Basketball Rallies For 63-60 Victory Over Columbia





Junior Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) scored a game-high 18 points and the Stony Brook University men’s basketball team rallied from a 12-point second half deficit for a 63-60 victory over the Columbia Lions on Saturday afternoon at Pritchard Gymnasium. Stony Brook improves to 6-2 with the victory, its best start since 1992-93. 

“What a terrific win for our guys against a very good and experienced Columbia team,” Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said. “We really played well on the defensive end in the second half and then made enough plays down the stretch to get a hard-earned victory. I couldn’t be prouder of my team.”   

Martin and sophomore Danny Carter (London, England) combined for 16 points in Stony Brook’s game-ending 25-10 run. Carter finished with 12 points while sophomore Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) chipped in with 12 as well. Martin finished 10-for-11 from the foul line. 

Columbia (3-4) took its largest lead of the game, at 50-38, with 14:11 remaining following a 10-0 run. But the Seawolves came roaring back, running off nine straight points over the next two and half minutes to close within three. The Lions would push their lead back to six but Carter drilled back-to-back threes to tie the game at 54 with seven and a half minutes left. 

The teams traded baskets over the next minute before sophomore Tommy Brenton (Columbia, Md.) stole the ball and took it the length of the court for a thunderous dunk that put the Seawolves up by two. Stony Brook maintained the two-point lead until Martin scored on a driving hoop with under two minutes left to put SBU up 60-56. 

Columbia would close within two on a Noruwa Agho bucket and then stopped the Seawolves on the ensuing possession, giving them the ball with 40 seconds left. SBU forced a miss on the next possession though and Martin then hit two free throws to push the Stony Brook lead back to four. 

Patrick Foley answered with a layup for the Lions and Dougher then missed the front end of a one-and-one to give Columbia a chance to tie or take the lead with 11 seconds left. But Foley missed on a jumper with four seconds left and sophomore Dallis Joyner (Norfolk, Va.) grabbed the rebound. 

Carter then hit one of two from the line with one second left and the Lions were unable to got a shot off before time expired as the Seawolves improved to 3-0 at home this season. Stony Brook’s bench outscored Columbia’s bench, 34-12.   

Columbia jumped to an early 7-6 lead but freshman Preye Preboye (Springfield, Mass.) then scored an inside hoop from to give SBU an 8-7 advantage. Columbia answered with a 7-2 run to take a three point lead before Martin scored on a three-point play to tie the game with 11 minutes remaining in the half. 

Dougher followed with a three and senior Muhammad El-Amin (Lansing, Mich.) then knocked down a fade-away jumper, after a Columbia free throw, to put the Seawolves on top by four. SBU pushed its lead to six a possession later as Martin set-up Joyner for an alley-oop that forced a Columbia timeout. 

The Lions closed within two but El-Amin then drilled a three from the right wing to push the Stony Brook lead back to five. The Seawolves would eventually build their lead back to six with six minutes left on a put-back from Carter. 

Columbia rallied to tie the game at 29 with just under three minutes remaining in the half, but Martin then knocked down two free throws to put SBU back on top by two. But the Lions scored five straight points to take a 34-31 advantage going into the break. 

The Columbia lead grew to five early in the second half before Dougher scored four straight to bring SBU within one. The Lions answered with four of their own before Dougher knocked down three to make it 40-38. 

Brenton grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds for the Seawolves, his third straight game with double-digit boards. SBU held the Lions to 38.2 shooting for the game, the sixth time this season it has held its opponent under 40 percent shooting. 

Stony Brook returns to action on Tuesday, traveling to take on Fordham. Game time is set for 7 p.m.