Stony Brook gets easy win over Binghamton
Frankie Policelli of the Stony Brook Seawolves puts up a shot in the first half against the Fairfield Stags at Island Federal Arena on Dec. 4, 2020. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Like it or not, even in this most unusual of college basketball seasons, the calculus for Stony Brook remains the same. Whether this season becomes a success or failure depends entirely on winning the America East Conference title to reach the NCAA Tournament. That made Saturday’s men's league opener the first big game of the season and the Seawolves met the moment.
They scored the final nine points of the first half and ran away from Binghamton over the first 10 minutes of the second half to build a 23-point lead en route to a 73-59 victory at The Events Center in Vestal, New York.
Frankie Policelli and Tykei Greene each had 15 points and Jayden Sayles had 12 points as Stony Brook (3-4, 1-0) beat the Bearcats for the seventh time in 10 meetings by shooting 50% from the floor, went plus-7 on the boards and turned 18 Binghamton turnovers into 31 points.
"Today was a monster step forward for us in terms of effort energy," SBU coach Geno Ford said.
"There’s more like an urgency because every game matters," Policelli said of conference play. "And [America East] seeding this year is probably going to mean more than any other year."
The conference modified its schedule for COVID-19 by cutting travel in half with teams playing on back-to-back days in one location to get its 18-game schedule in. Stony Brook can sweep the season series Sunday at 2 p.m.
"Coming away with a split typically [could be] good for any road series because in most years, if you can go undefeated at home and go .500 on the road, you're competing for a championship into the last week of the season," Ford said. "A sweep on the road would really jump-start us."
"I know a lot of teams will probably come into the game tomorrow and be relaxed and more laid back than normal," Policelli said of the mindset after this lopsided win. "So I don't know. It's kind of hard, but we’ve just got to be focused and come back and lock in."
With the America East a one-bid conference, five newcomers in the starting lineup and a short preseason, Ford said of the non-conference games, "I didn't care about our record — we needed to play."
And the results might be coming because, said Ford, "The intensity we played with today was significantly higher and that means we're learning and we're getting better."
Greene had the first five of those last nine points in the first half, which ended with a Mohamed Diallo steal and layup for a 38-26 lead. Stony Brook made 12 of its first 16 shots after the break and went up 64-41 with 9:47 to play on an Omar Habwe floater.
Tyler Bertram finished with 12 points for Binghamton (0-4, 0-1).
With only 22 hours before the teams’ second meeting — instead of the usual month — Ford said it’s a new challenge. "We’re athletic and conditioned, so that should be advantageous for us," he said, "but I don't know how mentally tough we are yet."
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
