Feb. 13, 2008

Stony Brook, N.Y. - The Stony Book men's basketball team returns to Stony Brook Arena for just the second time in three weeks on Thursday night, hosting the Hartford Hawks in an America East contest. Game time is set for 7 p.m. The game can be heard on WLIR 107.1 FM and WUSB 90.1 FM. Fans can also follow Livestats of the game at www.goseawolves.org.

Last Time Out: Senior Ricky Lucas (Herndon, Va.) scored a team-high 19 points and freshman Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) added 13 but it wasn't enough as Corey Lowe scored a game-high 21 points to lead Boston University to a 64-60 victory over the Stony Brook men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon at Case Gym. SBU got off to a quick start, getting five early points from Lucas and a four-point play from junior Michael Tyree (Somerset, N.J.) to take a 10-7 lead just over four minutes in. Another Lucas three and hoops from sophomore Rio Pitt and junior Demetrius Young (Sacramento, Calif.) stretched the run to 11-1 as the Seawolves took their largest lead of the game at 17-8 with 11:59 remaining. The Seawolves maintained their nine-point advantage with the help of five straight points from Martin before the Terriers ripped off five straight points to cut the Stony Brook lead to four and force an SBU timeout with 5:02 left in the half. Beauford hit one of two free throws with 3:09 remaining but the Terriers answered with seven straight to end the half, taking a 27-26 lead into the locker room. BU got off to quick start to open the second half, scoring seven of the first nine points to take its largest lead of the game at 34-28. The Seawolves eventually closed to within 39-35 on a Young jumper but threes from Lowe and John Holland pushed the BU lead to 10. The Seawolves came right back though, scoring five straight points on two Martin free throws and a Beauford three to slice their deficit to five at 45-40. A Lucas three a few possession later sliced that deficit to one but Holland answered with a three for BU to push the lead back to four. SBU drew within two on a Young alley-oop lay-up off an in-bounds play but Lowe answered with another three to make it 60-55 with just under four minutes left. Stony Brook turned it over on the ensuing possession leading to two BU free throws that made it a seven-point game. Beauford answered with a jumper to make it 62-57 but that it as close as the Seawolves would get until the final seconds when Martin hit three to provide the game's final points.

Series History: The Seawolves trail the all-time series 12-4 after their 83-81 loss to the Hawks on Jan. 24 at chase Arena. SBU has now lost six straight ot UHart with its last victory coming on Jan. 15, 2004, a 67-54 triumph at Stony Brook Arena.

Scouting the Hawks: Hartford (13-13, 7-4) have won three straight including a 68-63 victory at Albany its last time out and are tied for second place in the America East. The Hawks have been terrific on the offensive end, ranking second in the conference in scoring offense (72.1), field goal percentage (.451) and three point field goal percentage (.373). Joe Zeglinksi leads the UHart offensive attack, averaging 15.5 points per game followed by Warren McLendon's 12.7 points per contest. The Hawks have struggled on the defensive end, ranking last in the leage in scoring offense (75.5), second to last in field goal percentage defense (.453) and are just 3-10 on the road.

Last meeting: Senior Ricky Lucas (Herndon, Va.) poured in a career-high 31 points and junior Demetrius Young (Sacramento, Calif.) added a career-high 16 points and 12 rebounds but it wasn't enough as the Stony Brook University men's basketball team came up just short in a heartbreaking 83-81 loss to the Hartford Hawks on January 24 at Chase Arena. The Seawolves trailed by as many as 12 in the second half and by five with just over two minutes remaining. But Lucas hit two free throws with 1:29 to go to slice the lead to three and senior Mitchell Beauford (Queens, N.Y.) then cut the deficit to two at 83-81 with 40 seconds left after Hartford's Michael Turner had hit one of two free throws. The Hawks ran the shot clock all the way down on the ensuing possession, settling for a short jumper from Joe Zeglinski with just over 10 seconds to go that just missed. Lucas gathered the rebound and brought it into the frontcourt and was bumped off the ball just in front of the three-point line with seconds remaining, leading to a wild scramble for the loose ball that Stony Brook was unable to collect as time expired. Lucas was brilliant on the offensive end for the Seawolves, going eight of 11 from the field which included five three-pointers and a 10-for-10 performance from the free-throw line. Young hit his first seven shots from the field on the way to his 16 points for Stony Brook which shot 50.9 percent from the field and set a season-high in points.

Game Notes: -Senior Ricky Lucas scored a team-high 19 points on Saturday against Boston University and has now led the Seawolves in scoring 17 times this season. He has also now reached double-figures in points in seven straight games and nine of 10.

-Freshman point guard Chris Martin started his third straight contest on Saturday and had a terrific day, setting career-highs in points (13) minutes (22), three-pointers and rebounds.

-SBU turned it over just 10 times on Saturday against BU and have turned it over just 19 times over the past two games.

-Six of senior Emanuel Neto's 11 rebounds against BU on Saturday came on the offensive end. The native of Luanda, Angola now has 60 offensive boards on the season and ranks second in the America East with 2.86 per game. The Seawolves lead the conference with 13.22 offensive rebounds per game.