Stony Brook falls to America East leader Vermont despite Andrew Garcia's 20 points
Stony Brook guard Andrew Garcia drives the ball defended by Vermont forward Anthony Lamb during the first half of an America East men's basketball game at Island Federal Arena on Thursday, February 20, 2020. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Stony Brook men’s basketball team is fueled by its tenacious defense, which has kept it near the top of the America East standings and had the Seawolves in position to sweep Vermont, the soon-to-be conference champion. But in the final five minutes Thursday night, that defense could not get a critical stop.
Stony Brook allowed four three-pointers in the final 4:15 in its 63-54 loss to Vermont in front of a sellout crowd of 4,009 at Island Federal Arena. Vermont (22-6, 12-1 America East) outscored Stony Brook 16-9 in that span to grab at least a share of the regular-season title.
“They made the huge dagger threes and we did not,” Stony Brook coach Geno Ford said. “That was the separation.”
Andrew Garcia led Stony Brook (17-10, 8-4) with 20 points and six rebounds.
There’s pressure on Stony Brook’s defense each night to make up for an inconsistent offense that ranks in the 200s in Ken Pomeroy’s advanced metrics. The defense stands in the low 100s.
And there was extra pressure this time because leading scorer Elijah Olaniyi was sidelined for the second straight game with a right ankle injury. Olaniyi scored 28 points in Stony Brook’s upset of Vermont on Jan. 8 in Burlington, including the go-ahead layup with 26 seconds left.
A 10-0 run early in the second half gave Stony Brook its first lead of the game. The Seawolves were up 45-41 with 8:25 left, but the offense went cold and the defense could not contain Vermont’s Everett Duncan, who hit three three-pointers.
He drained the first one from the left corner with 4:15 left to give the Catamounts a 50-45 lead, and his third put Vermont ahead 59-47 with 1:47 remaining.
Stony Brook held Vermont to 5-for-27 shooting on all other three-point attempts, but the Seawolves shot only 31.6% overall.
“I don’t necessarily feel we gave them anything,” Ford said of Vermont’s late rally. “They just jumped up and made some really tough shots.”
The teams could meet again in the conference tournament, with Stony Brook holding a one-game lead over Albany for the second seed.
“Everybody in our locker room knows we can win that game, we should have won that game,” Garcia said. “Consistently clean up those little stuff that we know not to do for the next game and do better.”
