SBU Sports: Men’s basketball earns comeback victory over Bryant

The Stony Brook University men’s basketball team came from behind to defeat Bryant, 86-75, on Dec. 9 at Island Federal Arena. The Seawolves knocked down 16 three-pointers and shot 66.7 percent from the field in the second half to beat the Bulldogs.

Stony Brook found itself down 17-5 out of the gate after Connor Withers made his first five shots, including four from beyond the arc. Bryant maintained a double-digit lead for a majority of the opening 13 minutes of the contest, thanks to hot shooting from three-point range. The Seawolves made it a one-possession game on two occasions down the stretch in the first half, but would go into the locker room facing a 36-31 deficit.

The second half told a much different story, seeing the Seawolves flip the script on the Bulldogs. Stony Brook shot better than 65 percent from the floor and 73.3 percent from downtown in the second half to overcome a 12-point, first-half deficit and overcome Bryant.

Momentum began swinging in the Seawolves’ favor early on in the second half, and by the 12-minute mark the game was tied for the first time since the opening tip. Dean Noll’s trifecta made it 47-47, capping off a 9-0 run by Stony Brook.

Stony Brook then grabbed its first lead of the evening, 51-49, on a Tyler Stephenson-Moore trifecta. Chippiness between the two sides followed, seeing a pair of double-technicals assessed to players from either side.

 With the contest tied once more at 55-55, Withers struck again from downtown, but an extended celebration directed towards Stony Brook’s bench earned him a technical foul. Bryant’s three-point lead then turned into a seven-point deficit after the Seawolves went on a 10-0 run after the tech, punctuated by another Stepheson-Moore triple.

The Seawolves never trailed again, though the Bulldogs came within a possession of the lead with just under five minutes to play. The Seawolves buckled down however, expanding its lead to double figures with under two minutes to play and closing things out at the charity stripe to earn its biggest victory of the season to date.

“Tonight … we needed everybody to play well … and the eight guys that went in there made key contributions. It was a great win for us,” said Coach Geno Ford after the game. “At the end of the day, we showed a level of toughness and resolve that we need to show to win a game against a really good team.”