The game proved to come down to free throw shooting and rebounding, as the Huskies were able to get numerous second-chance opportunities and draw contact in the lane. UConn was 15-for-20 from the charity stripe and outrebounded the Seawolves 59-33.
'Stony Brook stayed with the Huskies for most of the first half despite getting into serious foul trouble early. The Huskies were in the bonus just six minutes into the game. However, the Seawolves used the three-pointer to stay in the contest. Connecticut was up eight, 29-21, when Dougher drained a three-pointer to cut the Huskies' lead to five, 29-24. UConn went up 11, 37-26, but Dougher made two free throws and sank another three-pointer to cut the deficit four, 35-31. The Seawolves went into halftime trailing 39-31 but with the game very much in reach.
In the second half, Stony Brook scored first on a senior guard Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) bucket, but UConn took over with a 12-0 run and hunkered down on defense to limit the Seawolves to 15.2 percent shooting from the floor after halftime.
Besides Dougher's strong performance, freshman guard Anthony Jackson (Columbus, Ohio) had a good collegiate debut with eight points. Martin chipped in 12 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Stony Brook is back in action Sunday afternoon in its home opener against Mount Ida at Pritchard Gymnasium at 2 p.m. For tickets, call (631) 632-WOLF or visit GoSeawolves.org.
