Seawolves Get a #1 Seed in America East (Recap of Maine v. Stony Brook)

Day Four of our four day weekend of hoops concluded today with a tripleheader.  First, it was Maine vs. Stony Brook, then a St. Peter's - Iona double feature; the women's game followed by the men's game.  And it was Senior Day for all three home teams.

I picked up my older son Matthew from baseball camp, then dropped off my younger son Jonathan with my in-laws.  Then it was off to Stony Brook for our first game.  We got there about a half hour before game time.  In the confusion of putting my tickets away, I left my wallet on the counter top of the concessions area. Thankfully, the person running the concessions gave it to a security guard. When I realized I had forgot my wallet, the concessions person pointed me to the security guard who gave me my wallet.  Can't thank both of them enough.  Crisis averted.

As we walked into a sold out Pritchard Gym, they were finishing the Senior Day ceremonies.  Dallas Joyner, Bryan Dougher, Al Rapier and Danny Carter were honored on their last regular season home game. The game was being televised on CBS Sports Network.  Don Criqui, who I grew up watching on Saturday afternoon NBC college basketball games, was doing the play by play while Wally Szczerbiak was doing the color.

Feeding off the emotion of Senior Day and the energy of the crowd, the Seawolves came out strong from the start.  After Maine's Gerald McLemore's three pointer cut Stony Brook's lead to 5-4, the Seawolves scored the next ten points. Dougher scored eight of those points, including two three pointers.  Stony Brook was up 15-4 with not even four and a half minutes gone by in the game.

After a classic hustle play by Tommy Brenton resulted in him scoring on a left handed driving layup, the Seawolves' lead had swelled to 26-11. It looked like Wolfie, the Seawolves Mascot, could put away the foul shot distracting Shake Weight away for the day.  Meanwhile, the Stony Brook Pep Band was playing some good tunes, including a good rendition of Santana's "Oye Como Va".

But Stony Brook then suddenly went cold from the field, going two of eleven the rest of half.  The Seawolves also committed six turnovers over the last seven minutes of the half.  This allowed Maine to go on a 13-4 run to end the half and cut the lead to six, 30-24.

At halftime, Matthew was really hungry and wanted two soft pretzels.  Thus we made our way to the concessions while a local CYO team played at halftime.  We got back for the tale end of the CYO game and Matthew was as aggressive eating his first pretzel as Brenton drove the lane on that layup.

The Black Bears picked up right where they left off at the end of the first half.   After he was fouled shooting a three point play, Maine's McLemore hit all three of his foul shots to cut the lead to one, 36-35.  The Black Bears had now outscored the Seawolves 24-10 over two halves.

Maine was still within one 40-39 with a little over nine minutes remaining.  Then Stony Brook finally started inching away.  Dallas Joyner and Al Rapier combined on a 6-0 mini run and the Seawolves went back up  by seven, 46-39 with eight and a half minutes left.

When you watch a Stony Brook game live, you will be treated to the best mascot perhaps in the country, Wolfie Seawolf.  Whether he is part of the dance team's "Greased Lightning" dance set, or when he is putting on the big hairdo and the chains and dancing to LMFAO's Party Rock anthem.  And of course, Wolfie leads the kids in the "Cotton Eye Joe" dance at the under eight media timeout. The dance team brought cardboard cutouts of all the Stony Brook players and Coach Steve Pikiell onto the dance floor and danced with them.  It was a very funny touch to the routine.

Normally a seven point advantage with that much time remaining isn't that much of a cushion.  But when you play defense like Stony Brook does, a seven point deficit seems like a fourteen point deficit.  Thus, try as they did, Maine could not get any closer than three points the rest of the way.  In fact, Maine only shot thirty percent in the second half.  It didn't help the Black Bears any that the Seawolves were eleven of fifteen from the line in the second half.

After Justin Edwards missed a three pointer with fourteen seconds left, it was only fitting that the heart and soul of the Seawolves, Tommy Brenton, would grab the rebound and dribble out the clock.  Stony Brook had a hard earned 55-48 win to clinch their second America East Regular Season Championship in the past three seasons.   This gives them the number one seed in the America East Tournament and if they win two games in Hartford, they will have home court advantage in the America East championship.

As the team celebrated by their bench hoisting the America East Regular Season Championship trophy, Coach Pikiell.took a microphone and walked to center court.  He first thanked the band, then the cheerleaders, then the Stony Brook community for all their support.  Pikiell then talked about Stony Brook setting a team record with a 14-2 conference record.  Finally, Pikiell spoke about how great and how classy his seniors were as a whole.   I had never seen a coach do that after a game and it was truly a classy gesture by Pikiell.

As Matthew and I left the Pritchard Gym to head to New Rochelle for our second and third games in our tripleheader of hoops, I talked to my older son about the possibility of being at Pritchard one more time.  That would be for the America East championship on March 10.   All the Seawolves have to do is win two games in Hartford next weekend.

There's no place I'd rather be on March 10 at 11:00 AM than Stony Brook, New York.  Make it happen, Seawolves.

Another Seawolves Home Game, Another Seawolves Win (Recap of UNH vs. Stony Brook)

Often one of the key ingredients to a team's successful season is the ability to win at home.  Seven times this season, Stony Brook has hosted a game in Pritchard Gym and seven times this season, Stony Brook has won that home game.  The Seawolves were looking for nine wins at home in a row dating back to last season when they hosted the Wildcats of New Hampshire for a 5:00 P.M. start due to the Martin Luther King Holiday.

It was clearly evident at the start of the game that this was going to be a contrast in offensive styles. New Hampshire was content to shoot from long distance, while Stony Brook worked it inside.  Brian Benson gave the Wildcats their first and only lead at 3-2 on a three pointer. But that was their only basket on their first five possessions as they turned the ball over on the other four.  Meanwhile, Al Rapier got off to a good start as he scored the first eight Seawolves' points.  Stony Brook was up early 14-5 with ten and half minutes left.

But the Wildcats refused to go away as they responded with a 9-0 run to tie the game at fourteen with a little more than seven minutes left.  Alvin Abreu kept the Wildcats in the game with ten points in the first half. The remainder of the first half would remain close as the Seawolves continued to hit layups and the Wildcats continued to hit three pointers.  The score at the half was Stony Brook 26, New Hampshire 24.

Earlier in the game, my color analyst, my six year old son Matthew, commented that all that New Hampshire does is shoot threes.  He was correct. In the first half, the Wildcats had twenty field goal attempts, twelve of which came from beyond the arc.  New Hampshire hit four of those, which kept them in the game.  Meanwhile, Stony Brook was only two of ten from beyond the arc, but ten of sixteen from two point field goals.

The start of the second half was the Tommy Brenton show.  The junior Seawolves forward scored nine of Stony Brook's first sixteen points and assisted on two baskets during that stretch.  Brenton is everywhere on the court and there was one series in particular that showed that.  First he hit an up and under layup for two points. Then on the defensive end, Brenton grabbed the rebound and brought the ball up court. Then while holding the ball, he set up a screen for Marcus Rouse, who canned a jumper.

With much of the credit due to Brenton, Stony Brook opened up a 48-33 lead on New Hampshire with about eight and a half minutes left.  During the first eleven and a half minutes of the second half, the Wildcats only shot three of nine from the field and committed six turnovers.  Things looked bleak for New Hampshire.

One of the great things about Stony Brook games is that it is very family friendly.   There are several contests during the stoppage of play and there is of course, Wolfie, the Seawolves' intrepid mascot and one of the best mascots I have seen at Division I basketball games.  But what stands out is the "Cotton Eye Joe" dance late in the second half.   This is where all the kids get to dance on the court with the Stony Brook cheerleaders, dance team and Wolfie. After having been at several Seawolves' games, Matthew finally decided to join the dance yesterday and I took a video of  it.  He told me he had a great time and would do it again.

The three pointer can get a team back into a game quickly and as noted in the first half, New Hampshire loves to shoot the three.  The Wildcats would mix in four three pointers along with several other baskets over the next seven minutes and cut the Seawolves lead to seven, 57-50 with a minute and a half left.   But the clock ran out on New Hampshire as Stony Brook held onto win 61-52.

Rapier had fourteen points and nine rebounds for Stony Brook, while the stat sheet stuffer Brenton had thirteen points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.  Bryan Dougher added ten points for the Seawolves. Stony Brook had fifteen offensive rebounds in the game compared to six for New Hampshire.  Abreu led the Wildcats and all scorers with twenty points while Patrick Konan added fifteen points.  New Hampshire hit nine three point shots and had more three point attempts, twenty two, then two point field goal attempts, twenty.

It was Stony Brook's eighth straight home win of the season and their ninth in a row overall dating back to last season.   Their recent Pritchard Gym winning streak is helping the Seawolves maintain first place in the America East with a 5-1 record. Holding serve at home is half the battle in conference.

Seawolves Ring in the New Year on a High Note (Recap of Rider vs. Stony Brook)

Last night was the second game I saw in Pritchard Gym in three days.  On Wednesday, Stony Brook gave up a twenty point lead to Cornell but won in overtime 68-59.  This time the defensive minded Seawolves were hosting the Broncs of Rider.  It was the last non-conference game for both teams before conference play truly begins (MAAC teams each have already had two conference games, America East teams start conference play next week).

The Seawolves were trying to win their second game in a row in a string of three straight contests at Pritchard Gym.  On Monday, they start conference play at home vs. Vermont.  Stony Brook was looking to keep the momentum against a Rider team that has struggled on the season.  The Broncs were coming into the night having won two games in a row after losing ten of their first eleven.  This season has been a far cry from last season for Coach Tommy Dempsey as the Broncs were 23-11 last season and finished third in the MAAC with a 13-5 conference record.

Pritchard Gym wasn't as filled as it was for the Wednesday night game against Cornell.  But there was still a solid crowd and a lot of kids would be a part of the Cotton Eyed Joe dance performance later on in the evening.  The crowd would also be treated to another solid Stony Brook performance as well.

You could immediately tell that Rider was in for a long night when the Broncs started the game off with a shot clock violation.  In fairness to Rider, Stony Brook's man to man defense was quite stingy last evening.  The Broncs had a turnover in four of their first five possessions (including the shot clock violation).  This allowed Stony Brook to jump out to a 14-4 lead with 14:35 left as six different Seawolves scored.

Rider rallied to cut the lead to 16-12 as Virginia transfer Jeff Jones buried two three pointers.  Jones played three seasons at Charlottesville, but decided to transfer to Rider probably due to a lack of playing time.  Watching him hit five shots from beyond the arc on the night, you could see he certainly is a high level talent.  Unfortunately he waited three seasons before making his decision.  Now he only has this season left to play.

Four points would be the closest the Broncs would get the rest of the way.  That's because Stony Brook went on a 18-2 run over the span of nearly nine minutes.  That was due mainly the Seawolves using their staple, the three point shot.  Stony Brook hit three shots from beyond the arc during that span to go up 34-14 with about two and half minutes left.

But the Seawolves run also came due in large part to the hardest working player in the America East, Tommy Brenton.  Watching Brenton hustle all over the court, force turnovers and see him work the glass is an absolute treat.  He is only six foot five, but he plays like he is six foot nine on the boards.  He started the run with a jumper and kept one possession alive with an offensive rebound, one of his twelve rebounds on the night.

But my favorite Brenton play would not show up on the stat sheet.  Later in the first half when Rider missed on a long jumper, he literally cleared his man out, backing into him with his arms spread out making sure that player never had a chance to touch the ball.  Another Stony Brook player grabbed the rebound, but it was a literal clinic by Brenton on how to box out your man.

Rider went into the half down 37-19.  They only had twenty shots in the first half while Stony Brook had thirty three.  A lot of this was due to the Seawolves having nine offensive rebounds and forcing ten Broncs' turnovers.  Meanwhile, Stony Brook only had one turnover in the first half.  Ball possession is always key in basketball and the Seawolves did an excellent job of that in the first twenty minutes.

Rider came out in a half court trap in the second half trying desperately to get back in the game.  And it slowly worked for the Broncs.  Rider finally used its height advantage and went inside to Daniel Stewart.  Stewart scored nine of Rider's seventeen points over the first seven and half minutes.   Stewart's last points of the span cut the lead to 46-36 with twelve and a half minutes left.   The Broncs finally were back in the game.

But Stony Brook stretched the lead back out to sixteen, 52-36 with 11:15 left as back to back three pointers by Bryan Dougher and Dave Coley.  It meant Rider would have to work hard again to get the lead back to single digits, eating up precious time and effort.   The Broncs would get as close as nine points, 59-50 with a little less than seven minutes left, as four of their last five baskets in that time frame were three pointers.

In Wednesday night's game, the Seawolves' intrepid mascot, Wolfie, pulled out a "shake weight" in the second half.  And he used that as a distraction to the Cornell players shooting free throws, as they missed three free throws in a row.  So sure enough, last night in the second half Wolfie tried the "shake weight" distraction again.  However it had no effect on the Rider players as they hit every free throw when he tried distracting the players.  Wolfie finally slumped his head in disappointment on the last free throw made.

But that was the only disappointment on the evening for the Seawolves, as they  would score twenty of the last thirty two points in the game to win 79-62. And it was a team effort as four Stony Brook players scored in double figures led by Coley, who had sixteen points.  Dallas Joyner had fifteen points while Dougher scored fourteen and Al Rapier added twelve points.  Brenton just missed a double double with nine points and twelve rebounds.    Rider was led by Jones' seventeen points, Stewart added eleven and Brandon Penn had a double double with ten points and eleven rebounds.

As the teams left the court, one team, Stony Brook, left knowing they would ring in the new year on a high note.  They shot forty nine percent on the night and had only seven turnovers on offense.  Coach Pikiell had to be pleased with his team's effort last night.

The other team, Rider, left wondering what has happened in the span of several months.  They had eleven losses all last season.  Now they have as many losses this season after just fourteen games.  Coach Tommy Dempsey must be shaking his head at this moment in disbelief

As for Rider's sudden turnaround, all I can think is what Morehead State coach Donnie Tyndall once said in an interview with Kyle Whelliston, "The game will hurt you".