Stony Brook, N.Y. - Senior Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) scored a season-high 23 points, and the Stony Brook men's basketball defense stifled Hartford in a 60-37 victory over the Hawks Wednesday night at Pritchard Gymnasium.
Stony Brook has now won nine of its last 10 games to move to 12-7 overall and 7-1 in America East. The Seawolves, who occupy first place in the standings alongside Boston University, have also now won 10 consecutive home games at Pritchard, two shy of the program's Div. I record.
Dougher, Stony Brook's America East Player of the Game, was the only Seawolves player in double-figure points, shooting 8-for-14 from the field and 5-for-9 from the three-point line. The Seawolves as a team shot 52.4 percent from the field and 50 percent from the three-point line.
The Seawolves defense limited Hartford to just 13 field goals in the game and only three in the second half. Hartford shot just 31 percent for the game and only 15 percent (3-for-20) from behind the arc. Stony Brook outrebounded its opponent for the 11th straight game, winning the battle of the glass 35-19 tonight.
Hartford was led by Genesis Maciel and his 10 points, earning him America East Player of the Game honors.
"We did a real good job on the defensive end and on rebounds," head coach Steve Pikiell said. "I was very pleased with the defense. We will always score enough points, but the key is to play good defense. If we play like this on a consistent basis, we'll be in good shape."
Stony Brook led the game from start to finish, and Dougher set the tone early on with a three-pointer to open the scoring. He then helped build a 12-point lead by hitting uncontested three-pointers at 7:56 and 5:28 to make it 22-10 in favor of the Seawolves.
Sloppy Seawolves play kept the Hawks in the game early on. The Seawolves committed 10 first-half turnovers and had only one field goal after Dougher's three at 5:28. Hartford's Andres Torres drained a three-pointer at 2:17 and Oren Faulk made one free throw at 1:05 to make it 24-18 at halftime.
Dougher then swung the momentum right back in Stony Brook's favor to start the second half with three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to make it a 12-point game, 30-18. Later on, he crashed into the lane for a nice layup at 15:14 and then went down the baseline underneath the basket and kicked out a pass to a wide-open sophomore Dave Coley (Brooklyn, N.Y.) for a three-pointer that extended the SBU lead to 17, 42-25, with 13:35 to play.
Stony Brook put the game away for good with an 11-0 run that lasted over eight minutes as the Hawks went 0-for-8 from the field with four turnovers in that span.
Senior Dallis Joyner (Norfolk, Va.) led Stony Brook on defense with nine rebounds and three blocked shots.
Stony Brook will play at home again Friday night against Boston University. It's RED-OUT BU night as the Seawolves will dress in the red uniforms and encourage the fans to wear red. The 9 p.m. game will be nationally televised on ESPNU and streamed on ESPN3.
