SBU Sports: Men’s basketball comes up short against Towson Tigers
Stony Brook men’s basketball fell just short against Towson, 53-49, on Jan. 18 at TU Arena. The Seawolves led by six at the half and held the Tigers to their second-lowest scoring output of the season, but could not close out the victory in enemy territory.
Stony Brook raced out to an early 8-0 advantage behind a pair of trifectas from Joe Octave and a basket by Andre Snoddy. The Seawolves held Towson without a point for the opening 2:58 of the contest and without a field goal made for more than three minutes to begin play.
Behind Octave’s scoring and a solid defensive effort, Stony Brook led 19-12 with less than five minutes to play in the first stanza. It took Towson until the 8:50 mark of the half to reach double-digit points.
Towson pieced it together offensively down the stretch, using a 7-0 run where it held Stony Brook without a point for more than three minutes to even the contest at 19-19.
Jared Frey and Collin O’Connor connected on shots from beyond the arc to put the Seawolves ahead 26-19 entering the break. The Seawolves took an eight-point lead on two occasions early on in the second half, but could never push the advantage to double figures.
Towson used another 7-0 run, this time spanning nearly five minutes to trim its deficit to one point, 31-30. The Tigers took their first lead of the afternoon on a Tyler Tejada basket inside with 7:29 to play, never relinquishing the lead from that point on.
A pair of free throws by Frey knotted the contest at 37-37 less than a minute later, but Towson built up a five-point lead that it maintained until the final two minutes of play.
Free throws by Frey and Ben Wight brought the Seawolves within one point with 1:02 remaining, but Towson locked down defensively and iced the game with second-chance opportunities and free throw shooting.
“Tough loss; we played hard and were able to match Towson’s physicality, which is their best quality,” head coach Geno Ford noted. “We gave up three offensive rebounds on the free throw line, which hurt, and we couldn’t score on a couple possessions in a row inside two minutes. Our inexperience showed down the stretch.”
The team returns home to host Campbell on Jan. 23. The Seawolves and Camels tip off at 7 p.m. from Stony Brook Arena, with the contest airing live on SNY and streaming on FloCollege.
