By greg.logan@newsday.com
Life since last season's NIT berth has been rough on Stony Brook's basketball team between the graduation of star Muhammad El-Amin and season-ending injuries to returning starters Tommy Brenton and Chris Martin. It threatened to get rougher last night at sold-out Pritchard Gymnasium when winless Colgate cut the Seawolves' lead to two with 5:06 to play.But that was where this shakedown cruise of a season finally began to come together. Veteran Bryan Dougher scored eight of his 15 points in the Seawolves' 12-5 finishing run, and they held the Raiders to 1-for-10 shooting late to pull out a 63-54 victory. "It was winning time," Dougher said. "Coach [Steve Pikiell] tells us that's when the best players have to take over, and that's what I tried to do."
Last season, Dougher was the trusty sidekick to America East Player of the Year El-Amin, but this season, defenses have focused on him. Dougher only made one of four three-pointers, and the Seawolves (5-6) were a poor 3 of 15 from beyond the arc. But in the second half, they looked inside and got a boost from freshman center Anthony Mayo, who had his best game with 10 points and four rebounds, and from veteran forward Dallis Joyner, who had eight points, four rebounds and played tough defense at the end on 6-10 Colgate center Nick Pascale (9 points, 10 rebounds).
"We have to do a better job of getting the ball into the post," Dougher said. "We were settling for jumpers . . . We're different than last year when we had 'Mo.' We've got to find more balance in our scoring."
For a team trying to get back to .500, the schedule offered up a great opportunity against the winless Raiders (0-11), who were led by 13 points each from guard Pat Moore and forward Yaw Gyawu. They will be followed by the Seawolves' America East opener at UMBC (0-12).
But the Raiders came in hungry to win, and their effort showed in a 20-12 margin in first-half rebounds, although SBU held a tenuous 28-27 lead. At that point, Joyner had only two points and zero rebounds. "That's not like me to not get any rebounds," Joyner said.
The powerful 6-7, 270-pounder struggled earlier this season with an ankle injury, but he's past it now. Given the different makeup of this Stony Brook team, Joyner might have to assert himself more at the offensive end. "Coach tells me to post up as hard as I can and don't worry about misses," Joyner said, "Once I get in the post, I know [defenders] will dive down on me, and I'll have Bryan open. I like to kick it out. I love to see those guys hit a jump shot."
Hey, layups look just as pretty, and they're more reliable.
