WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - Sunday will be one more last chance for Stony Brook and its only senior, Chris Martin. At least one more.
With a resolute 67-61 victory over Albany in an America East Tournament quarterfinal Saturday, Stony Brook hung on to this often troublesome season by tapping every resource available: Three-point baskets, stubborn defense, rebounding muscle and timely free-throw shooting.
After Albany cut a 56-48 deficit to 56-54, Martin scored nine of Stony Brook's last 11 points in the final 3:08, going 5-for-5 from the free-throw line. With the Seawolves ahead 61-59, two free throws each by Martin with 1:07 left, sophomore Leonard Hayes with 16 seconds to go and Martin again, with seven seconds left, put Stony Brook within two games of .500 at 14-16.
And, better than that, preserved faint hope for Stony Brook of qualifying for its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. Top seed Vermont (23-7) will offer the next challenge in the semifinals at 5:04 p.m. Sunday, with that winner playing next weekend for the America East title and automatic invitation to The Big Dance.
For Martin and his teammates, who twice were beaten by Albany (16-16) during the regular season, staying alive helped soothe the physical and spiritual aches that have followed last year's breakthrough 22-win campaign. Of the 53 player-games lost to injury, Martin had 13 absences while rehabilitating a surgically repaired knee.
"I didn't play a lot of games this year and I knew this could've been my last game,'' he said. "I told myself, I told my team, it wasn't happening. We weren't going to lose.''
A 6-1 guard, Martin personally provided team-high numbers in points (18, 16 of those in the second half) and assists (five), reprising the slashing drives to the basket so often missing from the team's repertoire during his forced sabbatical. And with the Seawolves ahead by four in the final seconds, he secured his sixth rebound to clinch it.
What began with junior guard Bryan Dougher lighting Stony Brook's offensive fuse, pumping in four three-point baskets in the first 31/2 minutes, spread to a team-wide conflagration that fulfilled coach Steve Pikiell's pregame designs.
He wanted "four 10s,'' he said - 10 made three-pointers, 10 offensive rebounds, 10 assists and 10 or fewer turnovers. Stony Brook had 11 turnovers, but the goals for three-pointers (10-for-19), rebounds (10 of the total 31 on the offensive boards) and assists (11) were met.
Albany made its most serious run midway through the first half, building a 27-20 lead on three consecutive baskets by its all-conference senior guard from Brentwood, Tim Ambrose. But Stony Brook's high-yield jump-shooting (48 percent for the game) produced a 34-34 halftime tie, and Albany's last lead was at 36-35 with 18:23 to play.
Dougher (12 points) didn't score again after his fiery start, but "he got them energized early on,'' said Albany coach Will Brown, a Dowling College grad. "He got them comfortable, then in the second half Martin did such a good job.''
"Everybody chipped in,'' Pikiell said. To wit, Hayes with 11 points, including those late free throws; Dallis Joyner's nine points and 10 rebounds; freshman Eric McAlister's six first-half points to stanch Albany's growing lead; the four defenders (Martin, Preye Preboye, Marcus Rouse and Dave Coley) who hounded Ambrose.
Ambrose had 24 points but shot only 3-for-7 from the field in the second half while rendering Pikiell "thankful that the next stop for him is graduation.''
For Stony Brook, the months of fixes and patches are just about papered over. And the team plays on . . .
