SBU Sports: Men’s basketball drops CAA opener on the road at Monmouth

Stony Brook men’s basketball dropped its conference opener on the road at Monmouth, 76-58. The Seawolves were paced offensively by Joe Octave’s team-high 15 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The two sides played a tight first half for the most part before Monmouth opened up a double-digit lead in the closing moments.
• Stony Brook led on two separate occasions early on, 5-3 and 7-2. The Hawks regained the lead and never relinquished it from that point on.
• The Seawolves kept Monmouth’s leading scorer, Abdi Bashir Jr., in check for the first 14 minutes of action, but back-to-back triples by Bashir gave the Hawks their largest lead of the evening, 28-19, with 5:23 to play in the first half.
• An Octave three pointer followed by an Andre Snoddy basket trimmed the deficit to four points, but Monmouth scored nine of the final 10 first-half points over the final four minutes to take a 12-point lead into the break.
• The Seawolves faced a double-digit deficit for the remainder of the game. CJ Luster II scored the opening basket of the second half to make it a 10-point game, but the Hawks widened the gap from there on out.
• Bashir took over offensively, scoring four straight baskets (three from beyond the arc), to pad Monmouth’s lead to 17 points with just under 11 minutes to play.
• A late 9-0 run by the Hawks made it a 27-point game before Stony Brook chipped away in the final moments, ultimately falling 78-56.

“Bashir showed why he is a Player of the Year candidate. We had zero answer for him. Monmouth was undefeated last year at home and have won the only two at home they’ve played this year. We have a tough game Saturday with William & Mary coming off of a 25-point win at Hofstra tonight. We have to find a way to shoot the basketball better,” head coach Geno Ford said. “To only have eight turnovers and not be able to score more than 55 points is a real concern. We will need to be much better on Saturday afternoon.”

Up next, the team welcomes William & Mary to Long Island for the conference home opener on Saturday, January 4. The Seawolves and Tribe tip-off at noon from Stony Brook Arena, with the contest airing live on SNY and streaming on FloCollege.