Stony Brook, N.Y. - Stony Brook University men's basketball team will tip-off its 2009-10 home schedule on Monday night, hosting Mt. St. Mary College at Pritchard Gymnasium. Game time is set for 7 p.m. Monday's contest will air locally on WUSB 90.1 FM and goseawolves.org with Mike Solano, Jeff Bernstein '92 and Curt Hylton announcing. The game can also be followed via live video streaming and gametracker at goseawolves.org. Tickets for Monday's game can be purchased at the Stony Brook University ticket office, by phone at 631-632-WOLF or online at www.goseawolves.org or at the door. The doors to Pritchard will open at 6 p.m.
Stony Brook opened the 2009-10 season with a 75-57 victory at Maryland Eastern Shore on Friday night. Senior Muhammad El-Amin (Lansing, Mich.) scored a game-high 25 points for the Seawolves, who held the Hawks to 35.3 shooting. Sophomore Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) added 11 points for a balanced Stony Brook scoring attack that saw 10 different players score.
Coming of its best season in its 10-year Division I history, the Seawolves are entering their second season at newly renovated Pritchard Gymnasium. SBU defeated defending champion UMBC, Albany and Boston University at Pritchard last season and played to a program record five sellouts.
Stony Brook defeated Maryland Eastern Shore, 60-44, in its home opener last season behind 11 points from sophomore Danny Carter (London, England). The Seawolves also got a game-high 16 rebounds from sophomore Tommy Brenton (Columbia, Md.).
The 2008-09 season saw Stony Brook finish 16-14 overall and 8-8 in the America East, tying for fourth-place in the final regular season conference standings, the Seawolves best-ever America East finish. The 16 overall wins and eight conference victories were the most for Stony Brook in its eight years as a member of the league.
The Seawolves will once again count on a defense that was a major reason for their success last season. In 2008-09, SBU led the America East in scoring defense (60.4 ppg), three-point field goal defense (.309), steals per game (8.8) and turnover margin (+2.8). The scoring defense and three-point field goal defense mark ranked 31st and 30th in the country, respectively, with the steals per game ranking 25th.
Located in Newburgh, N.Y., Mt. St. Mary College is coming off a 7-18 season in which it finished in seventh place in the Skyline Conference. First year head coach Ryan Kadlubowski returns three starters from last year squad including Carlos Valdez, the Skyline Rookie of the Year. Valdez averaged 11.0 points and 8.3 points per game last season.
This will be the Seawolves fourth all-time meeting with the Blue Knights. Stony Brook has won the previous three match-ups with the last victory coming in a 60-47 triumph at Stony Brook Arena on Jan. 11, 1994.
All Stony Brook men's basketball season ticket packages as well individual game tickets, excluding Albany and Binghamton, are now on sale and can be purchased at the Stony Brook University ticket office, by phone at 631-632-WOLF or online at www.goseawolves.org. The athletic ticket office is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and is located in the left corner of the atrium in Stony Brook Arena. Fans can also reach the ticket office by email at SeawolvesTickets@StonyBrook.edu.
