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No. 5 Men's Basketball Falls To No. 4 New Hampshire in America East Quarterfinals, 76-73
March 8, 2009
Albany, N.Y. - Junior Muhammad El-Amin's (Lansing, Mich.) potential game-tying three-pointer with two seconds left just missed as the fifth-seeded Stony Brook University men's basketball team lost to the fourth-seeded New Hampshire Wildcats, 76-73, in an America East quarterfinal game on Saturday night at SEFCU Arena. El-Amin scored a game-high 23 points for the Seawolves, who fall to 16-14 with the loss. Tyrece Gibbs led three New Hampshire players in double-figures with 18 points. "I'm disappointed in the loss but I'm proud of the effort we put forth tonight and all season," Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said. "Our defense was just not good enough to get a win against a very good New Hampshire team." SBU trailed by seven with 34.3 seconds remaining in the game but rallied to within two, 75-73, on lay-up from freshman Tommy Brenton (Columbia, Md.) with seven seconds remaining. Eric Gilchrese then hit one of two free throws on the other end to set up El-Amin's potential game-tying three. El-Amin scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half for the Seawolves, who had their second winning season since 1992-93.. Freshman Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) added 17 points for Stony Brook, while freshman Dallis Joyner (Norfolk, Va.) chipped in with 11. The Seawolves jumped to an early 6-0 lead but the Wildcats then went on an 11-2 run to take a three-point advantage just under four minutes into the game. SBU would eventually take the lead, 19-18, on a three from Dougher with 10:22 remaining in the first half. But the Wildcats would answer with a 9-2 run to take its largest lead of the game, 28-21. El-Amin scored five of the game's next seven points to get SBU within four but Gibbs then hit a three to push UNH's lead back to seven with 6:11 left.
UNH would eventually push its lead to 39-30 on a Rony Tchatchoua hoop with 3:28 remaining in the half but the Seawolves then closed the half on an 8-3 run to close within four, 42-38, at the half. Dougher scored a game-high 12 points in the first half for Stony Brook, which shot 46 percent in the opening 20 minutes. Gibbs started off the second half hot as he scored the Wildcats first eight points to give UNH a 50-41 lead just under two minutes into the period. The Seawolves would close their deficit to five on a El-Amin hoop with 15:38 left but New Hampshire followed with an 8-0 run, highlighted by two Tyrone Conley three-pointers, to take a 60-47 advantage with 12:11 remaining in the contest. Stony Brook would answer with seven straight points to get within six but Gibbs then hit a three to put UNH back up by nine with eight and a half minutes remaining in the game. SBU would close to within six on a basket from sophomore Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) with three minutes left but Dane DiLiegro then hit one of two free throws to make it 70-63 in favor of New Hampshire with 2:25 to go in the game. The Seawolves would close to within four on two occasions over the next minutes before Gibbs converted a three-point play with 34.3 seconds left to push the UNH lead back to seven. |
