SBU Sports: Men’s basketball outdueled in ‘Battle of Long Island’ at Hofstra

The Stony Brook men’s basketball team (8-16, 4-7 CAA) found itself tied, 20-20, with the Hofstra Pride (17-8, 10-2 CAA), but could not keep pace with its Long Island rival on Feb 4 at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex in Hempstead.

With about eight minutes remaining in the first half, freshman guard Toby Onyekonwu found graduate center Keenan Fitzmorris open in the paint and Fitzmorris slammed home a deuce to tie the game, 20-20.

Onyekonwu had one of the best performances of his career, despite the loss. He finished with a career-high 15 points, tied his career-high with six assists, and added five rebounds. The freshman started and played in 39 minutes.

Junior forward Kenan Sarvan had one of his better games of the season too. He finished with 14 points, his first time scoring in double figures since he scored 12 against Towson on Jan. 7 and his most points since scoring 16 against Sacred Heart on Dec. 12.

Sarvan nailed four three pointers in the game, his most since Jan. 7.

Despite Hofstra being without the reigning CAA Player of the Year in Aaron Estrada, Stony Brook struggled to keep pace with the Pride. Hofstra redshirt senior guard Tyler Thomas dropped a season-high 29 points, including 13 points in the second half. Thomas shot 13-of-17 from the field and grabbed 11 boards in the win.

The Seawolves and Pride will meet for the second ‘Battle of Long Island’ this season on Feb. 18 in Stony Brook.

“We did some good things; obviously not the result we wanted but I thought we battled tonight. Tyler Thomas had the game of his life and we were unable to defend him. I thought he used his size on the perimeter and shot over the top of us easily all night. Toby has strung some good games together which has helped, but clearly we have some depth issues right now,” said head coach Geno Ford.