Stony Brook captures top seed in tourney

After a 19-point loss two weeks earlier at Vermont, it seemed as though Stony Brook's chances of winning the America East regular-season title were doomed because the tiebreaker favored the Catamounts. But when winless Binghamton scored a shocking upset of Vermont on Tuesday, the Seawolves regained control of their fate.

Stony Brook jumped out to a 15-point lead over Maine to rev up a capacity crowd of 1,630 Sunday at Pritchard Gym but then hit a cold spell that let the Black Bears creep back within a point in the second half. Relying on their trademark defensive toughness, the Seawolves dug in and pulled out a 55-48 victory to earn the No. 1 seed in the America East Tournament and the right to host the championship game on March 10 if they advance that far.

It's the second regular-season crown for Stony Brook (20-8, 14-2 America East) in three seasons, and it assures them of an NIT bid if they don't win the conference tournament and gain their first NCAA Tournament berth.

The Seawolves will face the winner of Thursday's play-in game between Binghamton and UMBC at noon Saturday at the University of Hartford. A win would advance them to Sunday's semifinals against the Albany-New Hampshire winner.

SBU reached the title game last season as a fifth seed, only to lose by two points at second-seeded Boston University when the Terriers' John Holland made two free throws with 2.4 seconds left, so it meant a lot to get the top seed. "It's everything,'' said forward Dallis Joyner, who was the only Seawolf in double figures with 12 points plus six rebounds. "Last year ended with a foul call. Everybody knows you get different calls at home . . . You want to play right here in front of your fans.''

After a ceremony honoring seniors Joyner, Bryan Dougher (nine points), Al Rapier (seven) and Danny Carter (five), the Seawolves got off to a hot start, with the seniors taking turns making the first four baskets on the way to a 26-11 lead.

"I was on top of the world for a minute,'' said Carter, who hit the opening three-pointer and the final two foul shots with 21.9 seconds left in the game. "The adrenaline was going, and it felt great. This was our day, but we knew we were going to be in a dogfight.''

But after the lead reached 15 with 8:42 left in the first half, Stony Brook's offense went into a tailspin. The Seawolves made only five of their next 20 shots and committed 10 turnovers to let Maine (12-16, 6-10), which got 12 points apiece from Alasdair Fraser and Justin Edwards, cut the deficit to 40-39 with 9:08 remaining.

Then Rapier hit a layup and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but it turned into a four-point possession when Tommy Brenton rebounded for SBU and Joyner put in a layup. Joyner added two free throws moments later for a 46-39 cushion that never dropped below three points the rest of the way.

Maine shot 32 percent for the game and 19 percent from three-point range. Leading scorer Gerald McLemore shot 1-for-12 and had eight points.

Looking toward the America East tourney, SBU coach Steve Pikiell said, "We have a three-game season ahead of us. It's nice to have a home game [in the final] if you take care of business. We know what's at stake . . . I'm just pleased that these guys are 14-2. That's a heck of an accomplishment.''