SBU Sports: Men’s basketball falls to Air Force 69-61

The Stony Brook men’s basketball team fell to Air Force, 69-61, in the inaugural Legends Showcase on Dec. 7 at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas. Despite CJ Luster’s 27 points, the Seawolves dropped the neutral site contest to the Falcons.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After falling behind 15-9 early on, Luster scored Stony Brook’s next eight points, tying the contest at 17-17 with 5:42 to play.
• Air Force answered back and regained the lead, leaving the Seawolves down 27-23 entering halftime. Luster accounted for 15 of Stony Brook’s 23 first-half points.
• Air Force widened its lead after intermission, constructing a 38-29 advantage before Stony Brook went on a 6-0 run, finished off by Collin O’Connor’s layup, to shrink the deficit to 38-35 with 12:42 to go in the contest.
• The Falcons scored the next 11 points, opening up a 12-point advantage.
• Andre Snoddy scored five straight points and after an Air Force basket, O’Connor finished an and-one to trim the deficit to six points with less than eight minutes to play.
• Air Force extended the lead back to double figures and Stony Brook never got closer than within six points of the Falcons, falling 69-61.

STATS AND NOTES

• Luster’s 27 points were a game-high. The scoring output is a season-best for the Texas native against a Division I foe.
• Luster finished a perfect 10-for-10 at the free throw line. He is the first Seawolf to connect on double-digit free throws in 33 games (Keenan Fitzmorris vs. Norfolk State). Luster finished three free throws shy of DJ Munir’s program record of free throws made in a single game without a miss (13).
• O’Connor (13 points) and Snoddy (11 points) also finished in double figures. The trio of Luster, O’Connor and Snoddy accounted for all but 10 of the team’s total points.
• As a team, Stony Brook shot 3-of-21 from three point range. Luster was the only Stony Brook player to connect on a shot from beyond the arc. The Seawolves made just one of 12 attempts from long range in the second half.
• The Seawolves gave the ball away 17 times, leading to 20 points for the Falcons off of turnovers. Stony Brook forced Air Force into 22 turnovers, a season-high mark by an opponent. The Seawolves also limited the Falcons to 29 rebounds, a season-low for a Stony Brook opponent.

“We did enough rebounding and on the defensive end to win the game today, but when you shoot 3-21 from three it’s near impossible to win. Our value for the ball was poor and, as we’ve experienced so far this season, we have no consistency as to what we are capable of,” head coach Geno Ford said. “We played last Sunday against harder pressure-defense and had six turnovers, but today we didn’t make good decisions and finished with 17. We need to just keep working. We have time, but need to start getting better at a faster rate.”

Up next, the team heads to Lawrenceville, New Jersey to face Rider on Saturday, December 14. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 pm on ESPN+ between the Seawolves and Broncs.