Feb. 22, 2008

Stony Brook, N.Y. - The Stony Book men's basketball team will hit the road for the final time this season, traveling to take on the Maine Black Bears on Saturday afternoon at Alfond Arena. Game time is set for Noon and can be heard on WLIR 107.1 FM. Fans can also follow Livestats of the game at www.goblackbears.com.

Last Time Out: Senior Ricky Lucas (Herndon, Va.) scored a game-high 24 points but it wasn't enough as the New Hampshire Wildcats hit 15 three-pointers on its way to a 74-67 victory over the Stony Brook men's basketball team on Wednesday night at Lundholm Gymnasium. Lucas was terrific for Stony Brook, knocking down five triples in 10 attempts in addition to grabbing five rebounds. Senior Mitchell Beauford (Queens, N.Y.) added 14 points for the Seawolves while senior Emanuel Neto (Luanda, Angola) tallied nine points and eight rebounds. The Wildcats took their largest lead of the game at 22-9 with 11:22 left on back-to-back threes from Conley and Gilchrese, forcing a second Seawolves timeout. UNH still led by 12 at 31-19 before Stony Brook finally cut into the lead on the strength of seven straight points from Lucas. Tyrece Gibbs hit a three with under a minute remaining to send the Wildcats into the locker room with an eight-point advantage. Neto kept SBU in the game to open the second half, scoring the Seawolves first six points. But the Wildcats continued to shoot well from three, hitting three of their first four attempts in the opening minutes of the second period to take a 47-36 advantage. New Hampshire methodically stretched its lead out, building it up to 17 at 57-40 on a Conley free throw with 10:59 remaining. The Wildcats still maintained a 62-45 advantage with 6:07 to go before Stony Brook was finally able to claw its way back into the game with a 12-4 run highlighted by five points each from Lucas and freshman Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) to make it 66-57 with less than two and a half minutes left in regulation. SBU eventually pulled within six at 69-63 on back-to-back three-pointers from Lucas but Abreu answered with two free throws on the other end for UNH and the Seawolves would get no closer than six the rest of the way. Christensen and Abreu led four Wildcats in double-figures with 18 apiece as each hit four from long distance.

Series History: Maine leads the all-time series 14-4 after the Seawolves 75-59 victory at Stony Brook Arena on Jan. 6. SBU has not defeated the Black Bears on the road since a 57-53 win on Feb. 10, 2002. Maine eaked out a 63-61 victory last season at Alfond Arena as Ricky Lucas' halfcourt shot rimmed out as time expired. Lucas tallied a team-high 21 points for the Seawolves who also got 16 points and seven assists from Mitchell Beauford.

Scouting the Black Bears: Maine (7-19, 3-10) has lost three straight and six of seven after a 73-54 loss at Boston University on Wednesday night. The Black Bears are just 3-8 this season at home including 0-6 in conference play. Mark Socoby ranks ninth in the league in scoring with 14.4 points per game and also leads Maine with 5.8 rebounds per game. Maine has struggled on the defensive end, allowing 71.3 points per game which ranks second to last in the league. The Black Bears have also struggled with turnovers, ranking last in turnover margin (-4.04) and assist/turnover ratio (.63).

Last Meeting: Seniors Ricky Lucas (Herndon, Va.) and Mitchell Beauford (Queens, N.Y.) combined for 39 points and freshman Jermol Paul (Palm Beach, Fla.) added 12 as the Stony Brook University men's basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak with a 75-59 victory over the Maine Black Bears on Jan. 6 at Stony Brook Arena. Beauford notched a team-high 21 for Stony Brook, going eight of 13 from the floor while adding three assists and three steals. Lucas, the Seawolves leading scorer, scored just 10 points in the previous two games combined but came up big on Sunday scoring 14 of his 18 in the first half. Mark Socoby scored a game-high 27 points on seven of 10 shooting from beyond the arc for the Black Bears who turned it over 24 times and went just 11-for-20 from the free-throw line. Junior Demetrius Young (Sacramento, Calif.) added eight points and 10 rebounds, his fourth straight game with double-digit boards for the Seawolves who turned it over just 11 times and shot 18-for-23 from the line.

Game Notes: -Senior Ricky Lucas scored a game-high 24 points on Wednesday against New Hampshire, tying a season-high with five made three-pointers in 10 attempts. After Wednesday's performance Lucas now ranks third in the conference in three-point field goal percentage (.415).

-Senior Mitchell Beauford netted 14 points on Wednesday against New Hampshire, the first time in nine contests he has reached double-figures. The Christ the King product passed Mel Walker for eighth on the all-time scoring list with his last hoop and now has 1,228 points in his SBU career.