SBU Sports: Men’s basketball puts forth valiant effort but falls to Yale

The Stony Brook men’s basketball team went toe-to-toe with Yale in front of an energized crowd inside Island Federal Arena on Dec. 3. The Seawolves put forth a valiant effort as they were led by senior guard Tyler Stephenson-Moore and graduate guard Aaron Clarke, who each posted 20-point outings. Despite the Seawolves’ efforts, the Bulldogs were able to narrowly pull away, 77-72, to improve to 8-1 on the season. 

Clarke made his Stony Brook debut and gave the Seawolves a lift off the bench as he scored 20 points in 22 minutes. The graduate checked into the game with 15:44 to play in the first half and scored his first points as a Seawolf at the 13:29 mark when he knocked down a three-pointer.

Stephenson-Moore led the way offensively for Stony Brook as he scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Stephenson-Moore helped fuel an 8-0 run in the second half as he drilled a three to cut Yale’s lead to 67-62 with 8:04 to play. 

The Seawolves and Bulldogs traded blows down the stretch. Stony Brook was able to get within two points of the lead three times over the final eight minutes of the game, but Yale came up with an answer on each occasion. With 1:06 to play in the contest, Clarke converted a pair of free-throws to make it 72-70. Yale returned the favor by cashing in on two free-throws on the ensuing possession with 43 seconds to play to go up, 74-70. A second-chance layup by graduate forward Frankie Policelli cut the Bulldog’s lead to two points, 74-72, as he cleaned up a missed three by Stephenson-Moore with 15 seconds to go. 

Yale was able to convert its free-throws down the stretch and go on to win by the final score of 77-72. The five-point margin of victory was the second-smallest of the season for Yale, its smallest margin of victory was three points when it defeated Hawaii, 62-59, in overtime earlier this season. 

“This [experience] is something we can build on,” said head coach Geno Ford after the game. “Tonight we played hard and we played well — it just wasn’t quite well enough to beat a really, really good Yale team From a coach perspective, I’m disappointed we lost … but we took a huge step forward and this is by far the best we’ve looked.”

Up next, the team will travel to Rhode Island to take on Brown on Dec.9. A quick turnaround finds the Seawolves back at Island Federal Arena on Dec. 12, for a 6:30 p.m. tip-off against Sacred Heart.