The Stony Brook men's basketball team shot only 38.6 percent and committed a season-high 24 turnovers in a 65-42 loss to Vermont Sunday afternoon at Patrick Gym in Burlington, Vt.
The Seawolves slip to 9-14 overall and 4-7 in America East. Vermont has now won seven straight games and improves to a league-best 10-2.
"We had too many turnovers today," head coach Steve Pikiell said. "Give credit to Vermont, they're a good team and they played a good game, and when you play good teams, you can't give up so many possessions."
Early in the first half, Stony Brook was taking advantage of numerous Vermont turnovers and hanging with the Catamounts. Marcus Rouse (Upper Marlboro, Md.) had an early basket that put the Seawolves up 6-2.
Vermont took control of the contest from there, outscoring SBU 30-9 the rest of the half. The Seawolves trailed 16-13 when the Catamounts went on an 8-0 run over a six-minute span to open up a 24-13 advantage. After Dave Coley (Brooklyn, N.Y.) ended SBU's scoreless run with a long jumper, UVM ended the half with another 8-0 run capped by Brendan Bald's three-pointer just before the buzzer, sending the Catamounts into the locker room with a 32-15 advantage.
In the second half, Stony Brook had a spark as Leonard Hayes (Voorhees, N.J.) dropped a two-point jumper and a three-point basket on back-to-back possessions to get his team back within 12, 32-20, but Vermont exploded with a 16-2 run punctuated again by a Bald 3-pointer to put the game out of reach.
Hayes, Stony Brook's America East Player of the Game, led the Seawolves with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting.
The Seawolves will head home tonight and then go back into New England Wednesday to take on New Hampshire at Lundholm Gymnasium in Durham, N.H., at 7 p.m.
