Staten Island, N.Y. - Sophomore Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) led five Seawolves in double-figures with 12 points and the Stony Brook University men's basketball team used a 23-0 first half run to defeat the Wagner Seahawks, 72-48 on Saturday night at the Spiro Sports Center. Stony Brook improves to 3-0 with the victory while Wagner falls to 0-2.
"What a terrific win on the road for our basketball team," Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said. "We got contributions from a lot of guys and our defense was tremendous."
Senior Muhammad El-Amin (Lansing, Mich.) and junior Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) each added 11 for the Seawolves, who are off to their first 3-0 start since the 1994-95 season. Senior Desmond Adedeji (Landover Hills, Md.) chipped in with 10 points while sophomore Tommy Brenton(Columbia, Md.) had 10 points and eight rebounds. Stony Brook held Wagner to 29.8 percent shooting.
Stony Brook jumped to an early 4-2 lead behind two hoops from sophomore Dallis Joyner (Norfolk, Va.) before Wagner scored five straight points to take a 7-4 advantage. The Seawolves would eventually go ahead 11-8 following a three and a driving lay-up from El-Amin.
The Seahawks would close within one but El-Amin answered with another three to put Stony Brook on top 14-10 with 14:21 left in the first half. Wagner rallied to tie the game at 16 but Brenton scored four of the Seawolves next five points to give SBU a 21-16 lead midway through the half. El-Amin then nailed a three and Dougher followed with a driving lay-up to extend the Stony Brook lead to 10.
Dougher wasn't done though as he drilled a three and then scored in the lane before sophomore Danny Carter (London, England) scored on a put-back off a missed Dougher free throw to put SBU up 33-16. Adedeji dunked on the Seawolves next possession and then scored on an inside hoop before Carter capped the 23-0 run with a fast-break basket.
Wagner ended the spurt with back-to-back three pointers but Adedeji scored another bucket and the Seawolves would end the half on a 13-8 run to go into the break with a 52-30 lead. El-Amin scored a game-high 11 points in addition to dishing out five assists in the opening period for the Seawolves, who had eight different players score. Stony Brook shot 57.9 percent in the first half, while holding Wagner to 32.1 percent shooting.
Both teams struggled to score at the start of the second half but Wagner was only able to slice four points off the Seawolves halftime lead, closing to 57-39 on a Michael Orock bucket with 12:45 left in the game. But Brenton got free for a dunk, off a beautiful pass from El-Amin, on the Seawolves next possession and Joyner then one hit one of two free throws to push the lead back to 21.
Wagner answered with five straight points but Adedeji corralled a rebound on Wagner's next possession, dribbling to the Stony Brook free throw line before dishing it to Martin, who gave it right back to Adedeji for the two-handed slam.
The Seahawks would get no closer than 16 the rest of the way as the Seawolves went on to their third straight victory to open the season. Stony Brook returns to action on Tuesday, traveling to take on Rhode Island. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.
