The Stony Brook men's basketball team hung tough with Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish made nine three-pointers and shot 54 percent from the field to pick up a 88-62 win over the Seawolves Sunday afternoon at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Ind. Marcus Rouse (Upper Marlboro, Md.) led the Seawolves with 15 points.
"Notre Dame was a real good team, a veteran team that works hard and is well-coached," head coach Steve Pikiell said. It was a tough game for us. Our veterans really struggled today and in order for us to play in a game like this, you need them to play well. You just have to learn from this, move on and hope you don't face an offensive team like this again."
Stony Brook played well in the first half, defending the three-point line enough to stay with the Fighting Irish early on. The Seawolves took a 10-8 lead on Dave Coley's (Brooklyn, N.Y.) three-pointer at 14:52, but the Irish then went on a 10-2 run to open up an eight-point advantage, 18-10.
The Seawolves stayed within striking distance, thanks to Rouse's efforts. He drilled a three-pointer at 10:11 and sank an off-balance, mid-range jumper at 9:00 to get SBU within six. Notre Dame went up 11 Carleton Scott's triple at 7:59, but Stony Brook fought back once again as Eric McAlister (Hightstown, N.J.) grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a layup, and Coley followed with a defensive rebound off an ND miss and went down the court and hit a bucket to pull the Seawolves within three, 29-26.
The half didn't end well though as Notre Dame went on an 8-0 run to go up 13 at halftime. After Anthony Mayo's (Philadelphia, Pa.) 15-footer at 3:33 made it 33-28, four different Irish players converted layups to make it 41-28 at the break. Stony Brook was 0-for-4 with a turnover in the half's final three minutes.
In the second half, Notre Dame went up 23, 58-35, after Jack Cooley's three-point play, but Anthony Jackson (Columbus, Ohio) gave the Seawolves hope. He knocked down an NBA-range three-pointer at 14:26, then stole the ball from Eric Atkins, who fouled Jackson on the reach-in. Jackson then got the ball back and drilled another three-pointer to pick up some momentum and get the Seawolves within 17, 58-41, with 14:16 to play.
However, Notre Dame proved to be too strong as the Irish reined three-pointers. Three consecutive triples capped by Ben Hansbrough's fastbreak three off a Scott Martin steal put the Irish up by 29, 72-43, a margin Stony Brook could not recover from.
Stony Brook shot 37.7 percent for the game and got to the foul line only eight times, making just four shots. Notre Dame outrebounded the Seawolves 42-33 and turned nine offensive rebounds into 16 points. In addition to hitting all the big three-pointers, Notre Dame also outscored Stony Brook in the paint 36-18.
Supplementing Rouse's 15 points, Jackson added 12 and Coley had 11. Tim Abromaitis led Notre Dame with 22 points, and Scott had 20 points on a perfect shooting day (8-for-8, 4-for-4 from 3).
The Seawolves will break for the holidays and return to action Wednesday, Dec. 29 against Colgate (WUSB) at Pritchard Gymnasium at 7 p.m.
