Cold shooting costs Stony Brook in loss to Wagner

The fanwear of the current crop of Stony Brook faithful - bright red T-shirts in crisp cotton that fill the stands at Prichard Gymnasium - poses the question: "What is a Seawolf?"

Sunday, during the Stony Brook men's basketball team's eventual 58-54 loss to Wagner, that inquiry took on added meaning.

Are the Seawolves the team that won the America East regular-season title last season and stood its ground for at least one half of the 2010-11 opener against Connecticut? Or are they the team that struggled Sunday against Wagner (a team that finished 5-26 last season), losing a one-point lead on Tyler Murray's three-pointer with 1:43 remaining and missing three open three-pointers in the final 30 seconds?

"I thought at some point in time we would get a big bucket, make a big three or make a big play," coach Steve Pikiell said. "We've done that in all three of our wins this year, but we didn't do that today."

If Pikiell wanted to see a big three, he didn't need to look much further than that 1:43 mark.

Stony Brook (3-2) took its first lead since the opening seconds of the second half when Dallis Joyner grabbed the offensive rebound of his own missed layup and dunked it to give Stony Brook its first basket in more than eight minutes and a 48-47 advantage. But two Wagner possessions later, Murray hit the long-range three to put the Seahawks (2-1) up for good. He finished with 21 points.

SBU drew to within 54-51 with 31.6 seconds left on Bryan Dougher's three but was unable to capitalize after a Wagner turnover gave the Seawolves possession with 30 seconds to go. Dougher missed three three-point attempts in the waning seconds.

"I missed a lot of open shots that I should've made, that I normally make. I can't have another shooting game like this," said Dougher, who finished with 15 points but shot 3-for-16 from the field, including 3-for-10 from three-point range.

Though the Seawolves grabbed 49 rebounds - led by Joyner with 13 and Danny Carter with 11 - to Wagner's 30, they were 15-for-63 from the field and 4-for-21 from three-point range. Carter finished with 14 points.

The young Seawolves have been struggling with their shooting and still are searching for their identity. "I think we've got to put our pieces together," Pikiell said.

With Stony Brook still trying to overcome the graduation of star guard Muhammad El-Amin and Tommy Brenton's season-ending injury, the question hangs densely in the air - not what is a Seawolf, but who are the Seawolves now?