Feb. 17, 2008

Box Score

Stony Brook, N.Y. - Senior Ricky Lucas (Herndon, Va.) hit the go-ahead jumper with 2:43 left in overtime as the Stony Brook University men's basketball team rallied from an 11-point second half deficit on its way to a 71-70 victory over the Vermont Catamounts on Sunday afternoon at Stony Brook Arena. Stony Brook improves to 5-20 overall and 2-11 in the America East while Vermont falls to 12-13 and 7-6.

"I'm obviously really proud of our effort today," Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said. "We didn't give up when we fell behind [in the second half] and we made the plays we needed to down the stretch."

Freshman Jermol Paul (Palm Beach, Fla.) hit a three to put the Seawolves up 64-61 on the opening possession of overtime but a Kyle Cieplicki four-point play less than minute later put the Catamounts back on top by one. Lucas had an answer though, pulling up for a jumper from the top of the key that put Stony Brook up 66-65. The Seawolves would push their lead to four with 27 seconds left after junior Michael Tyree (Somerset, N.J.) hit one of two free throws and sophomore Eddie Castellanos (Hoboken, N.J.) hit both freebies.

Marquis Blakely pulled the Catamounts within two on a follow lay-in and after Lucas hit just one of two free throws, UVM had the ball with a chance to tie. But Cieplicki missed a long three and Tyree corralled one of his career-high seven rebounds to secure the victory for Stony Brook.

Lucas, the America East Co-Player of the game, tallied a team-high 15 points while Paul added a career-high 15 as well. Blakely had a monster game for UVM, recording 26 points and 18 rebounds to earn America East Co-Player of the game honors.

Vermont took its largest lead of the game at 56-45 with 10:52 to go on Cieplicki jumper but sophomore Rio Pitt answered with a jumper on the Seawolves next possession to kick start a 10-0 Stony Brook run as SBU held the Catamounts scoreless for 9:57 after the Cieplicki jumper.

Freshman Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) gave Stony Brook its first lead since early in the game with 1:22 left on a runner in the lane. After a Vermont miss, Martin hit two free throws to push the lead to three but Blakely ended the UVM drought with a three-point play with 13 seconds left to tie it up. Martin had a chance to give SBU the win but his jumper from the right baseline just missed.

The game was close for most of the first half, with neither team holding more than a two-point advantage until the Catamounts ran off a quick 7-2 run, highlighted by an alley-oop dunk to Blakely, that gave UVM a seven-point lead at 30-23 with 4:21 left. Stony Brook would cut the lead to three on two free throws from junior Demetrius Young (Sacramento, Calif.) but Blakely scored the final four points of the half to give Vermont a seven-point lead heading into the locker room. Blakely dominated the opening 20 minutes, hitting nine of his 10 field goal attempts on his way to 20 points and nine rebounds.

The Stony Brook defensive effort was stellar as the Seawolves held the Catamounts, the top three-point field goal percentage team in the league, to just seven of 32 from long distance.

Stony Brook returns to action on Wednesday, traveling to take on New Hampshire at 7 p.m.