SBU Sports: Policelli leads men’s basketball to victory against Hampton Pirates
The Stony Brook men’s basketball team (8-14, 4-5 CAA), led by a second half explosion from graduate forward Frankie Policelli, stormed past the Hampton Pirates (5-17, 2-8 CAA) on Jan. 28 at the Convocation Center in Hampton, VA to pick up a 71-66 victory.
Policelli scored a career-high 34 points, shooting 11-of-20 from the floor and 12-of-14 from the free-throw line. The New Hartford, New York, native exploded for 31 points in the final 20 minutes, shooting 11-of-16 from the field and 9-of-10 from the line in the second stanza.
Policelli also hauled in 12 rebounds, giving him his team-leading eighth double-double of the season.
The Seawolves trailed the Pirates, 37-30, at halftime and used a second half comeback to upend Hampton. Stony Brook began the frame on a 12-4 run to regain the lead and backed by Policelli they never looked back.
Policelli fooled Hampton freshman forward Kyrese Martin with his pump fake and step-through move that gave the Seawolves the lead with less than 14 minutes remaining. At that point, Policelli had scored 10 points in the half. The graduate helped maintain control of the lead and continued to build on it. He also got help from freshman forward Leon Nahar, who splashed the second three-pointer of his career.
The Seawolves opened the second half on a 27-9 run and built a lead of up to 13 points, at 65-52. Policelli exploded in the second half scoring 31 of the Seawolves’ 41 points. The team shot 55.6 percent from the field and 71.4 percent from the free-throw line in the second stanza.
With the victory, Stony Brook picked up its fourth conference win of the season.
“Great team win for us. I couldn’t be prouder of how we competed and found a way to win tonight. A lot of guys made huge plays and were factors in the game, but Frankie’s second half is the best 20 minutes of offensive basketball I’ve been a part of. Our guys are competing and battling as hard as they can,” said head coach Geno Ford.
