Men's Basketball's Winning Streak Ends at 13 Games Against Stony Brook, 59-56
BOX SCORE
ALBANY, N.Y. – University at Albany men's basketball (18-8, 12-1 AE) suffered its first conference loss of the season on Tuesday night at SEFCU Arena, falling 59-56 to Stony Brook (18-10, 9-4 AE). The Danes hadn't lost since Dec. 30.
“We turned the ball over too many times,” said head coach Will Brown. “The disappointing thing is I thought our defense at times was solid, but they man-handled us on the glass in the second half. They got too many opportunities off of that and we were a step slow offensively. We turned the ball over too many times at the wrong time.”
In a premier conference match-up, both teams came out rough from the field. In the opening four minutes, the teams were a combined 4-for-13 from the field with five turnovers between them.
Stony Brook snuck in with an early lead, thanks to three blocks in the paint; but the Danes started heating up from three-point land. After Ray Sanders hit his second three with just under 10 minutes gone, three of UAlbany's five field goals had come from behind the arc.
In a tale of two sides, the Purple & Gold was 4-for-8 (.500) from three-point range, while the Seawolves were 0-for-4 at the under-eight media timeout. Both squads continued shooting below 40% from the field.
A 7-2 spurt from the Danes late in the first half opened up their largest lead of the game, 29-18 with 4:06 on the clock. Stony Brook responded with a 5-0 run of its own to come within two, 31-29 at halftime. Seven different UAlbany players had scored at the break.
The Seawolves temporarily regained the lead early in the second half, but Sam Rowley continued to pound the boards and tallied four early points to maintain a two-possession lead. The senior had his seventh double-double of the year and third in the last four games with 9:30 to play.
But Stony Brook converted on its second-chance opportunities in the paint to charge back. The Seawolves went on a 6-0 run amidst a four-minute scoring drought, compounded by three turnovers for the Danes.
With four minutes remaining, the Steve Pikiell's squad saw its lead swell to six points, but UAlbany chipped away to come within one, 57-56 with 1:24 on the clock. Carson Puriefoy went to the line to make two free throws, and quality looks for the Purple & Gold didn't fall on the other end.
UAlbany shot a season low 20-for-58 (.345) from the field. Stony Brook becomes just the second team to go 1.000 from the charity stripe against the Danes. Rowley and Sanders finished with 12 points apiece.
Sam Rowley had six offensive boards in the loss, good for 220 in his career. The senior needs eight more to become the Division I career leader in offensive rebounds.
UAlbany men's basketball looks to get back on track in its #PurpleOut4JP on Friday night, hosting Hartford (13-13, 6-7 AE) at 7:00 p.m., on ESPNU.
