Sacred Heart's Shane Gibson had 19 points and nine rebounds to lead four Pioneers who scored in double figures. SHU shot 45.5 percent in the contest and outrebounded the Seawolves 34-30.
"We had taken two steps forward over the last two games, but we took a step back today," Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said. "Here at home, we have to play strong defense and hold teams under their season average for scoring, but we didn't do that today. But we will learn from this and we'll keep getting better."
Stony Brook led for most of the first half as the team rode Dougher's hot hand. With the margin only in SBU's favor by two, 12-10, Dougher connected on a three at 9:38 to make it a five-point advantage. Later in the half as the Pioneers closed to within one, Dougher rattled off three triples between 4:11 and 1:58 to put Stony Brook on top 33-27.
However, the pesky Pioneers stayed with SBU as Evan Kelley sank a three with five seconds left to put them only down one, 33-32, at halftime.
Sacred Heart opened the second half on a 13-4 run as Gibson scored nine of the 13 points, including the dagger three-pointer at 15:20 that made it 45-37.
Stony Brook fought back as Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.), Dallis Joyner (Norfolk, Va.) and Al Rapier (Chicago, Ill.) all made scoring contributions to tie the game at 54-54 after Rapier's layup at 6:35.
The Pioneers responded with Gibson, who tallied his fourth three-pointer of the game at 5:47 to break the stalemate start a 10-0 run that put Sacred Heart up for good. After Gibson missed a three, Sacred Heart's Chris Evans grabbed one of 11 Pioneer offensive rebounds. Jerrell Thompson then sank a three to quickly put his team up six. Thompson followed with free throws after two consecutive Seawolves turnovers, and then Stan Dulaire capped the run with a dunk. Sacred Heart led 64-54 with 3:32 remaining in the game.
Stony Brook got as close as four, 64-60, with under a minute to play, but the Pioneers went 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final minute.
Both teams shot the ball well - the Seawolves were 44.9 percent from the floor and the Pioneers were 45.5 percent from the floor. Stony Brook struggled from the free throw line, making only 15 of 23 shots.
In addition to Gibson's 19, Thompson had 16 points, and Kelley and Dulaire each had 11. To complement Dougher's 18 for Stony Brook, Rapier finished with 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting, and Martin chipped in 10 points. Dallis Joyner grabbed 11 rebounds to lead both teams.
Stony Brook will break for finals and return to the court Sunday, Dec. 19 at Notre Dame at 4:30 p.m. The game will be broadcasted LIVE on WUSB and televised nationally televised on ESPNU.
