SBU Sports: Men’s basketball makes it four wins with Bryant triumph

Leading by as much as 18, the Stony Brook men’s basketball team earned its fourth win in five tries on Dec. 11, knocking off NEC foe Bryant 86-78 in front of 1,930 fans at Island Federal Arena. 

Anthony Roberts led five Seawolves in double figures with 20 points on 6-for-14 shooting, including hitting a trio of triples. Tykei Greene was one off the Roberts team-high, sitting with 19 points on 6-for-8 shooting. He finished with the same ratio at the free throw line.

After Bryant cut the lead to six with 8:57 left, the Seawolves rattled off a 16-4 run to build its largest lead at 18 with 3:41 to go in the half. The hosts made six of their eight shots during that span, including two of its three attempts from 3-point land and were able to force four Bryant turnovers.

In the second half, the Seawolves survived multiple attempts at a Bryant comeback, as the visitors brought the Stony Brook lead to three on multiple occasions but were never able to bring it even. Stony Brook used an 8-0 spurt over 88 seconds to extend its lead back to double digits at the midway mark of the half and held the distance the rest of the way.

“It was a really tough ball game. Bryant plays super fast, they race it down your throat, they play really hard… it’s a very good program. Our prep wasn’t great going into it with some of the same issues but give Bryant a bunch of credit with the guys they lost. They hung around the whole time and had a chance to steal the game. Great job for them and it was a great win for us,” said head coach Geno Ford.

“Every game is hard. Even when we have a lead, someone can cut it so we are showing we can be mentally tough and pull through these close, tough games and that’s definitely a positive going forward. Getting back in transition tonight was key for us because that was one thing that never stopped and I think we did a good job,” said Roberts.