STONY BROOK, NY – The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team got off to a fast start, but Stony Brook University (SBU) used the final 30 minutes of the game to pull away from the Aggies in a 69-59 win at Island Federal Arena in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) action.
Sophomore guard Kam Woods led the Aggies with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists after playing all 40 minutes. Demetric Horton added 12 points, and Marcus Watson had 10.
The Aggies dropped to 12-15 overall and 7-7 in the CAA. They remain in sixth place in the standings. Stony Brook ended a three-game losing streak and improved to 9-17 overall and 5-8 in the conference.
Throughout the season, the Aggies have usually been the team who gets off to a slow start before rallying to win. But this time, A&T had the blazing start. A&T hit six of its first 10 shots to take a 17-6 lead following a 3-pointer from Horton with 13:25 remaining in the first half. The Aggies took their biggest lead of the game, 21-8, on a turnaround jumper from Watson nine minutes into the game.
Leon Nahar followed his miss to get the Seawolves to within 11 before Watson showed up again with a stepback jumper to push A&T's lead back to 13, 23-10. SBU took over from there. The Seawolves went on a 9-0 run capped by a Keenan Fitzmorris hook shot to cut the Aggies lead to 23-19 with 6:50 remaining in the first half.
Graduate forward Webster Filmore broke up the Seawolves run with a putback of his miss, but a basket from Toby Onyekonwu and two free throws from Fitzmorris cut A&T's lead to two. Woods responded with a 3-pointer before Tyler Stephenson-Moore answered back with a three.
Stephenson-Moore's 3-pointer sparked an 11-2 SBU spurt that included a three from Onyekonwu and another from Kaine Roberts. The run completely erased A&T's early 13-point lead and gave SBU a 34-30 lead with 50 seconds remaining until halftime. A Woods free throw sent the Aggies into the locker room trailing 34-31.
Chase McDuffie, who made his second straight start for the Aggies, opened the half by getting the Aggies to within one on a jumper. Watson then gave A&T the lead back, 35-34, on a pull-up jumper 80 seconds into the half. But, unfortunately, the Seawolves had another extended run in them.
They scored the next 12 points that ended when Frank Policelli hit back-to-back threes to give SBU a 46-35 lead with 15 ½ minutes remaining. It took A&T seven minutes, but they did get to within seven, 52-45, on a Love Bettis 3-pointer. A Woods free throw got the Aggies to within six, but they could not get any closer.
After Bettis drove to the basket to cut SBU's lead to 54-48, a 9-1 run that included two Tanahj Pettway 3-pointers gave SBU a comfortable 63-49 lead with 2:10 to play. Neither team shot the ball well, but the Seawolves did make 15 of 17 (.882) free throws while the Aggies went 9-for-18 (.500) from the line. The Seawolves also out-rebounded the Aggies 49-34.
Stephenson-Moore and Fitzmorris had 14 points apiece for SBU. The Aggies travel from Stony Brook, NY, to New Jersey for a Monday rematch at Monmouth at 7 p.m.
