Adedeji, Brenton lead Stony Brook past Mount St. Mary
Photo credit: John Dunn | Stony Brook's Desmond Adedeji dunks against Mount St. Mary's in the second half Monday in Stony Brook. (November 16, 2009)
Nov. 16: Stony Brook 87, Mount St. Mary 53
It was one of those feed-the-beast nights, with the bigger guys from Division I Stony Brook feasting on Division III Mount St. Mary, 87-53, in a non-league men's basketball game. And the human analogy for Stony Brook's season home opener was senior Desmond Adedeji, who employed his avoirdupois to full advantage, scoring a team-high 16 points and adding two rebounds and a steal in 15 minutes.
Adedeji, the transfer from Dayton whose first season on Long Island was slowed by injury and too much weight, has lost 42 pounds. Last night, he flashed niftier footwork and a hunger for the heavy lifting inside.
Mount's most physically imposing player was 6-5, 210-pound Kevin Milella, a sophomore from Floral Park, compared to the 6-10, 305-pound Adedeji. "But it's not my problem that I'm way bigger," Adedeji said. "With smaller guys on me, I still have to go strong to the basket. That's what the big fella can do."
Already in full control of the proceedings with a 16-point halftime lead, Stony Brook (2-0) began to make a concerted effort to push the ball inside to Adedeji early in the second half, when he wolfed down eight of 10 Stony Brook points in one three-minute sequence with a lefthanded hook, spinning layup, forceful dunk and another layup.
When his next attempt, a driving layup, spun out, sophomore forward Tommy Brenton was there for the follow-up tap-in, another development that summed up the game.
Brenton, who is 6-5 but spends much of his time above the rim, was Stony Brook's most complete player. In 24 minutes, he produced 15 rebounds, 11 points, eight assists, four steals and two blocked shots. Each of those totals, with the exception of the 11 points, led both teams in the category.
Brenton also drew two technical fouls for hanging too long on the rim after slam dunks. He said he "shouldn't have done that" but felt his actions were a bit misunderstood. Said Brenton, "I don't think the ref is a dunker."
Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell, a defensive zealot, complained briefly about Mount shooting "over 40 percent" - 40.8, to be precise. "We're a good defensive team," he said. "I want to hold teams under 40."
Mount did suffer through a six-minute field-goal drought early in the second half, and virtually every Stony Brook player - 11 of the 12 who saw action - scored, most prominent being senior Muhammad El-Amin (15), freshman Preye Preboye (12) and junior Chris Martin (11).
Ultimately, poor Mount, whose school motto is Doce Me Veritatem -"teach me the truth" - got a lesson in how size matters.
SBU to face Brown in NCAAs. The Stony Brook men's soccer team (6-9-4) will play at Brown (10-2-5) at 7 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, also known as the College Cup. The Seawolves, who are on a 5-0-2 streak after a 1-9-2 start, won the America East championship and the automatic bid by defeating UMBC, 2-0, on Sunday.
