Kidani Brutus nailed a three-pointer, one of seven in the game for him, with one minute left in overtime to lift the Manhattan Jaspers to a 64-63 win over the Stony Brook men's basketball team Saturday afternoon at a sold-out Pritchard Gymnasium crowd of 1,630. The game was scheduled as part of ESPN's BracketBusters event. Brutus finished with a game-high 25 points. Marcus Rouse (Upper Marlboro, Md.) finished with 15 points to lead the Seawolves and earn America East Player of the Game honors.
Stony Brook, which falls to 11-16 on the season, had an 11-point lead as late as 10:37 of the second half, but free throws crippled the Seawolves' chances to win. SBU was only 15-for-27 (55.6 percent) from the charity stripe. Manhattan improves to 6-22 on the year and was 9-for-15 (60 percent) from three-point range.
"I thought we played well enough to win the game," head coach Steve Pikiell said. "Our game plan was to outrebound them, and we did. But we had trouble guarding their best player, and we went 3-for-10 on our free throws in the second half. Still, we had chances to win the game, but we didn't hit our layups. As a coach, you do what you can to set them up to win, but they still have to be the ones to make the shots."
The Seawolves led the Jaspers by six, 31-25, at halftime and then took an 11-point lead at 10:37 after Anthony Mayo (Philadelphia, Pa.) converted a three-point play on a layup off a pass from Preye Preboye (Springfield, Mass.). But from there Brutus and George Beamon willed the Jaspers back into the game. Brutus' three-pointer at 9:18 cut the SBU lead to eight, 45-37. He sank another three at 6:19 to cut it to three, 48-45.
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Leonard Hayes (Voorhees, N.J.) answered Brutus with a three-pointer of his own off a kick-out from Dallis Joyner (Norfolk, Va.), but Manhattan's Michael Alvarado sank a pair of free throws, and Beamon followed with a long three-pointer to make it a one-point game, 51-50, with 4:36 remaining.
The game was tied at 55-55 with under a minute remaining when Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) cut through a pair of defenders into the lane and nailed a runner that got a good bounce off the rim through the net to put the Seawolves on top 57-55 with 44.8 seconds remaining. However, Beamon answered with a runner of his own coming down the baseline to tie the game. Stony Brook had a chance to win at the buzzer, but Preboye's alley oop layup attempt rimmed out, sending the game to overtime.
In the extra frame, Stony Brook jumped out to a four-point lead, 61-57, on a tip-in from Danny Carter (Windsor, England) and a Joyner layup. The Seawolves held that lead until 2:05 when Brutus buried his sixth triple of the game straight up with a defender on him. The Seawolves then turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions sandwiched by one Beamon free throw that tied the game at 61-61.
With a minute left, Brutus once again took the ball and again was one-on-one with a defender, spotted up and sank his seventh three-pointer of the game, giving the Jaspers a 64-61 lead. The Seawolves responded as Rouse drew a foul from Beamon while shooting a three-pointer. But the normally steady free throw shooting Rouse missed the second of the three free throws. Stony Brook trailed 64-63 with 35 seconds left. SBU then played great defense, forcing a missed jumper from Alvarado. That set up the final play, as Dougher took the ball, split defenders to get into the lane, got a layup attempt up, but the ball rimmed out as time expired.
Brutus and Beamon finished with a combined 48 points, representing 75 percent of Manhattan's scoring. In addition to Rouse's 15, Dougher added 11.
Stony Brook outrebounded Manhattan 43-32 and had 18 offensive boards, but only scored 14 second chance points. Manhattan took advantage of 13 Seawolves turnovers to get 20 points.
The Seawolves resume America East play Wednesday at Hartford at 7 p.m. The game will help determine SBU's seed in the upcoming America East Tournament.
