Stony Brook men’s basketball fought to the finish, falling 80-70 to UNC Wilmington on Feb. 1 at Trask Coliseum. Collin O’Connor scored a career-high 27 points, logging a full 40 minutes in the contest.

Stony Brook opened the scoring on an Andre Snoddy trifecta, building a 6-0 lead in the opening minute before the Seahawks connected on a pair of threes to level the contest. 

The Seawolves regained the lead for a moment, but UNCW turned the momentum with a 14-2 run to build a nine-point lead, 20-11.

Stony Brook struggled to slow down UNCW offensively, finding itself in a 16-point hole after the under-four media timeout of the first half. The Seawolves scored six of the final seven points of the half, holding UNCW without a field goal for the final 3:42 of the half, to head into the locker room trailing by 11.

CJ Luster II, who had a quiet first half, scored Stony Brook’s first eight points of the second half to whittle the deficit to six points, 45-39, at the 16-minute mark.

The Seawolves did a much better job of slowing down the Seahawks to start the second half, limiting runs and cutting into the deficit.

O’Connor began to find his groove offensively, scoring inside and outside, as well as at the free throw line. A pair of O’Connor free throws with 9:46 to play brought the Seawolves within four points of UNCW, the smallest margin between the two sides since the opening 10 minutes of the first half.

Trailing 60-54 with less than eight minutes to play, Stony Brook sent UNCW to the free throw line. After two misses, the Seahawks corralled an offensive rebound, which led to a second-chance basket. Stony Brook turned it over on the ensuing possession and UNCW capitalized with a three pointer to force a Seawolves’ timeout. Another Seahawks’ basket made it nine straight points and pushed Stony Brook’s deficit to 13 points, 67-54.

Stony Brook could not get within single digits for the remainder of the evening, ultimately dropping the road contest to UNCW. 

“We battled tonight, but we weren’t able to make enough plays to pull it out,” head coach Geno Ford said. “Coming into the game, UNCW was 36th in the nation in offensive rebounding and we were able hold them to three total, a season low.”

“Collin had a good ballgame, and I thought Dre’s effort defensively and on the glass was outstanding. We are getting better. We still have eight games to try and build some momentum heading to D.C.,” Ford added.

The team heads home to host CAA preseason favorite Towson on Feb. 6. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:31 pm from Stony Brook Arena, with the contest streaming on FloCollege.