Jan. 30, 2008

Box Score

STONY BROOK, N.Y. -Senior Ricky Lucas (Herndon, Va.) scored all of his 22 points in the second half but it wasn't enough as the Stony Brook University men's basketball team rallied from a 14-point second half deficit but came up short late, falling to New Hampshire 68-60 on Wednesday night at Stony Brook Arena. The Seawolves fall to 4-16 overall and 1-7 in the America East while UNH improves to 7-13 and 4-4.

"We showed a lot of effort and heart tonight," Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said. "We just weren't able to overcome some missed opportunities on the offensive end."

UNH grabbed its largest lead of the game at 58-44 on a Mike Christensen jumper with 6:11 left but sophomore Eddie Castellanos (Jersey City, N.J.) answered with a runner in the lane to kick start a 14-2 Seawolves run over the next five minutes. A long three over two defenders by junior Michael Tyree (Somerset, N.J.) capped the SBU run and cut the UNH lead to two at 60-58 with 1:44 remaining.

New Hampshire turned the ball over on its ensuing possession and Tyree grabbed the loose ball but Christensen just got a piece of his lay-up attempt, deflecting it to Tyrece Gibbs who got it to Christensen who was then fouled by freshman Jermol Paul (Palm Beach, Fla.). Gilchrese hit one of his two free throws to push the lead to three and the Seawolves then turned it over on their next possession leading to two Gilchrese made free throws that pushed the Wildcats lead back to five and Stony Brook did not threaten again.

The America East Co-Player of the Game, Lucas went six of 12 from the field including three from long distance in the second half for the Seawolves who shot 35.3 percent from the field for the game. UNH shot 44 percent from the field including eight three-pointers and were led by Christensen, the America East Co-Player of Game, who scored a game-high 25 points.

Stony Brook got off to a terrific start, scoring the game's first nine points on two hoops from Young in addition to a Paul three and lay-in from senior Mitchell Beauford (Queens, N.Y.). SBU still lead 17-10 with 10:12 to go but the Wildcats then scored seven of the next eight points to draw within one and took the lead for good a few minutes later at 23-22 on a Gilchrese jumper.

A Christensen lay-up gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the game at 32-24 but a Beauford trey just before the buzzer sent the Seawolves into the locker room down by five. Beauford and Paul led Stony Brook in the opening half with nine points apiece while Christensen led the Wildcats with 10.

The Seawolves return to action on Saturday, traveling to take on Albany at 7 p.m.