G’Day, Mates! Albany’s Australians Keep Stony Brook from Getting over NCAA Hump

STONY BROOK, N.Y. -- Perhaps the Stony Brook Seawolves will have some better luck next March, after they move into their newly refurbished Stony Brook Arena (formerly the USB Sports Complex) next season.

In terms of finally reaching the NCAA tournament, nothing else has worked thus far -- not the Seawolves’ America East Conference regular three season titles (2010, ’12, ’13) in four years; nor their recent three trips to the finals of the America East tournament (2011, ’12, 14); and not even hosting the league championship game on their home floor for the second time in three seasons.

Just as they did in the America East title game at the USB Sports Complex two years ago, the second-seeded Seawolves (23-10, 15-4 America East) came up a win short of reaching the Big Dance for the first time, while losing, 69-60, to the fourth-seeded Albany Great Danes (18-14, 12-7 America East) in the final men’s basketball game at Pritchard Gymnasium on Saturday.

Albany, meanwhile, after becoming the lowest-seeded team to win the America East tournament (as a four seed) last year, repeated the same feat while knocking Stony Brook out for a second straight season (the fourth-seeded Great Danes beat the top-seeded Seawolves by two points in the semifinals last year season, one year after Stony Brook did the same to Albany, with the schools seeded the same).

Late in the game, the Seawolves appeared to be in good shape, leading by six points, with the game’s high scorer, Albany’s Australian-born, junior forward Sam Rowley (18 points on 9-of-11 shooting), fouling out with 7:02 to play.

But while Rowley kept the Great Danes close to that point, fellow Aussie, sophomore guard Peter Hooley (15 points) -- the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player -- after a rough 2-for-13 start from the field, made his last two shots and scored seven points during a game-turning 15-4 run that gave the Great Danes the lead for good, 61-56, with 1:04 remaining.

Hooley led all scorers in the tournament with 71 points over three games, for a 23.7 per-game average to head an All-Tournament Team that included Rowley and senior point guard D.J. Evans (16 points, including 12 in the first half), as well as Stony Brook’s two sophomore New Jersey products -- guard Carson Puriefoy (13 points) and forward Jameel Warney (12 points, team-high 9 rebounds).

Senior forward Gary Johnson, who shot just 1-for-5, but who scored eight points while grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds, made six straight free throw attempts over a 24-second span in the final minute to seal Albany’s fourth trip to the NCAA tournament. Each of those appearances have come since 2006, as the Great Danes, who were the last America East team to win consecutive tournament titles (2006-07) did so again.

While head coach Will Brown (a Long Island native of nearby Miller Place, NY) was confident about his team’s hottest stretch (five wins in six games) of the season prior to tipoff, the lone loss in that period was in the regular season final for each team, when the Seawolves overcame a 10-point deficit to win by five points, thirteen days earlier.

A 9-0 Stony Brook lead did nothing to keep Brown’s self-assurance at a high level, but after he a called timeout, Brown’s players restored his faith by scoring the next 10 points to ignite a 20-5 run that put moved Albany head, 20-14, just past the midpoint of the opening half.

“We know it’s a long game.” Rowley said. “One run does not make a game. That obviously wasn’t the way that we planned on starting the game, but we knew that our shots were going to fall, that we were going to find a rhythm and that happened within the next few minutes.”

Brown added, “I had four or five Stony Brook fans come up to me and say, ‘Coach, thank you for beating Vermont. Thank you!’ I bit my tongue and inside I’m thinking, ‘Say that to me after this game.’ We weren’t happy to be here. We came here to win. These kids [and]… my assistants prepared like champions… we were ready and we wanted this badly.”

               

Dave Coley (nine points, eight rebounds), a senior guard from Brooklyn, NY, scored on a layup to cap a spurt of seven straight Seawolf points, to put the home team up, 21-20, before Evans reached his 12th point with a left-wing 3-pointer to regain the lead for the Great Danes, 23-21.

Rowley later broke a 27-27 tie before Hooley (3-for-7 from 3-point range) made his first shot from behind the arc, to give Albany a 32-27 lead.

Down 34-31 at halftime, and 38-34, after another Rowley jumper almost five minutes into the second half, the Seawolves scored 10 consecutive points -– half of them by Puriefoy-- to lead, 44-38, with 11:29 left.

However, the Great Danes answered with the next eight points -- half by Rowley -- to go back up, 46-44, less than three minutes later.

Yet in a game of runs, the Seawolves came back with eight straight points -- five from Puriefoy -- to lead, 52-46.

During that stretch, Rowley fouled was called for his fourth personal foul, with 8:07 to go. Just 1:05 later, he fouled out while battling for a loose ball off of a missed 3-pointer by Hooley.

That’s when Albany, in an intimate and hostile environment, without Rowley, and with history on Stony Brook’s side, dug deep, especially defensively.

The Seawolves’ next field goal didn’t come until more than 5½ minutes later, when Puriefoy answered a tough layup through traffic by Hooley by hitting a jumper with 1:30 left, to keep Stony Brook within 58-56.

On the next trip, Hooley drained a right-wing 3-pointer that gave the Great Danes a five-point lead and some breathing room.

Free throws by Johnson provided the next four points, to extend Albany’s lead to 65-56, in the final minute, and the Seawolves -- which shot just 28.1 percent (9-for-32) in the second half after making 54.2 percent (13-of-24) of their shots in the opening frame -- never got closer than seven points thereafter.

Earlier, senior center John Puk scored six of his eight points while no one else scored for the Great Danes.

Puk tied the game, 52-52, on two free throws, then made a tough turnaround jumper for the right blocks off of a right corner entry pass from Evans, to knot things up again, at 54-apeice, before he grabbed an offensive rebound, drew a foul, and made two more foul shots, to put Albany ahead to stay, 56-54, with 2:32 left.

Although teams hosting the America East championship game are 25-6, home teams have lost the past three title games in the league, with the Great Danes being responsible for two of those occasions.

Those weren’t the only difficult odds for gritty Albany -- which made 18 of 19 foul shots, including all 16 of its free throw attempts in the second half -- foul to overcome.

“My deli sandwich and my pizza that I’m going to eat on the bus ride home are going to taste so much better,” Brown joked “That’s what I miss about Long Island – delis, pizza, bagels. I don’t miss the traffic, but winning here is special because it was a championship and because not too many teams win here.”

Stony Brook finished 61-19 (.763) at Pritchard since moving back there in 2008, and the Seawolves had won 37 of their previous 40 games in the cozy 1,700-seat gym. However, including the title game loss to the Great Danes, three of the four losses in Stony Brook’s final 41 games at Pritchard occurred this season.

Trying to remain upbeat, Pikiell said. “I’m disappointed for our whole university… but it’s not our birthright. We’ve got to win that [championship] game… and it’s hard to get to this game, it’s hard to win it and you’ve got to play well.  And you’ve got to have a [day] where you’re making some shots. And we didn’t. We didn’t make the plays when we needed to.”

Pikiell felt most sorry for his seniors.

“They won 25 games last year, 23 games this year, [two years ago], they won 22.” He said. “It’s not good enough at this level… they’ve done a lot, but [the question will be about not making the] NCAA tournament. That’s the world we live in now, and I understand that. I take all the responsibility. It’s not those guys. Those guys are great. But [the NCAA tournament] is all anyone wants to talk about… you have to win this tournament. That’s how one-bid leagues are judged… we’ll keep getting back to this game. One of these days, we’re going to have one of those great days at the right time… Stony Brook’s good and we’re going to continue to be good.”

Graciously, Brown said, “I’d like to congratulate Stony Brook and Steve Pikiell on a tremendous season. I’ve got a lot of respect for Steve and how he’s built this program. He’s done it the right way, with quality kids and he’s got a great staff. One loss doesn’t change all he’s accomplished and what they’ve accomplished as a program… hopefully, they get an NIT bid, and if they don’t, they deserve to be playing somewhere next week.”

Senior Night Success: Hofstra to Enter CAA Tourney After Rare Win

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- The veteran guidance of graduate transfer students Zeke Upshaw and Dion Nesmith, and senior forward Stephen Nwaukoni have helped freshman forward Jamall Robinson grow into a better player this season.

But when it came time to send Upshaw and Nwaukoni off of the Mack Sports Complex floor for a final time in style, Robinson paid them back.

Scoring 15 of his game-high (and career-best) 22 points in the second half, Robinson steered the Hofstra Pride (9-22, 5-11 CAA) to an 82-71 victory over the James Madison Dukes (11-19, 6-10 CAA) in the Colonial Athletic Association regular season finale for those teams on Saturday night.

Snapping a five-game losing streak, the Pride won for only the second time over a 12-game span since January 22 (when Hofstra earned an impressive 17-point home win over third-place William & Mary).

The Pride’s other win (61-52) in that stretch likewise ended a five-game skid, and was over North-Carolina Wilmington,  which also lost to Hofstra at home, 69-64, on January 15.

Those two teams will meet next on Friday night (with Hofstra as the eight seed and UNCW seeded ninth), in the first round of the CAA tournament in Baltimore (where Robinson will play in his home state of Maryland), with the winner to face top-seeded Delaware at noon the following day.

“We’re really happy to get this win,” said head coach Joe Mihalich, who was brought in after 15 years at Niagara to begin the process of resurrecting a program that had as many player arrests (six) as Division I wins last year.

While all of those players are long gone, Hofstra has continued to struggle record-wise but is once again on the right track. And the focus of Mihalich’s new team was in the correct place on Senior Night.

Mihalich said, “The battle cry was, ‘Let’s finish the season off the right way.’ We have a little mojo going into the tournament in Baltimore.”

With Robinson shining, Upshaw (18 points), Nesmith (12 points, five assists no turnovers) and Nwaukoni (nine points, game-high 13 rebounds) all did their parts, as did junior forward Moussa Kone and sophomore forward Darren Payen, each of whom added eight points on efficient 4-of-6 shooting.

“We got a lot of contributions from a lot of people,” noted Mihalich, who while calling Robinson’s game “terrific,” said, “It was great that our seniors did something so special. Stephen had 13 rebounds and Zeke… I don’t know he does it, he just keeps scoring points.”

Russian graduate forward Andrey Semenov (17 points), sophomore guards Ron Curry and Charles Cooke (15 points each) and freshman guard Jackson Kent (10 points) gave JMU good balance among the Dukes’ starting five, but that quartet combined for all but 14 of its team’s scoring.

For a while, that was working out well for JMU, which after trailing, 9-4, and missing seven of its first nine shots, made its next six field goal attempts (and at one point, scored nine straight points), to lead, 22-17.

That spurt came without Nesmith (who unlike Upshaw, still has one year of eligibility remaining), after the transfer from Northeastern and Monmouth picked up two fouls within 21 seconds and went to the bench for the rest of the half, with Hofstra up, 12-11, and 13:58 left before halftime.

Fortunately for Mihalich, he has versatile 6-foot-6 sophomore Jordan Allen (five points, five rebounds, game-high six assists), who can play small forward as well as run the point when Nesmith is out.

In that role, Mihalich also relied on Robinson, who said of his big game, “It felt great,” while adding, “I just stepped my game up a little bit more. Coach just challenged me to play more of a point guard position, so I took it as a challenge to play the best I could.”

After Robinson tied the game, 26-26, on a jumper, and Payen, the same, at 28-28, the Dukes used a 7-1 run to go ahead, 35-29. But the Pride countered with the next eight points, to lead, 37-35. Half of those points during the run came from Upshaw, who after scoring half of Hofstra’s first 14 points, went 10:35 without scoring.

Cooke, who led all scorers with 12 first-half points, made a 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left in the half to give the Dukes a 41-39 edge at the break.

JMU was like a different team from the floor after that point, shooting just 24.2 percent (8-for-33), after making 60.9 percent (14-for-23) of its shots in the opening half.

Such a drastic change, Mihalich thought, was a result Pride’s better effort. “More of an intangible than an X’s and O’s thing,” he said. “I felt we had a little more passion, a little more energy. Our transition defense was better as well.”

The teams traded consecutive runs of seven straight points, as the Pride moved ahead, 52-46, only to see the Dukes regain the lead, 53-52.

Another 7-1 spurt put Hofstra up, 69-62, with 5:17 left, before the Pride pulled away late.

Two free throws by Cooke brought JMU to within 70-66, with 3:04 remaining, following a key block by Nwuakoni 52 seconds earlier, but Hofstra scored the next four points, as Robinson sank a pair of free throws to give the Pride a 74-66 advantage, with 1:03 left.

Including those two free throws, Hofstra scored its final 10 points at the foul line. Nesmith and Upshaw each made two foul shots over that period, and Robinson the other six, including two that gave the Pride a comfortable 80-71 edge, with 36.7 seconds to go.

A four-time CAA Rookie of the Week, Robinson especially thanks team leaders like Upshaw and Nwaukoni for his aiding in his early success.

“They helped me a lot,” he said. “They always pulled me aside and say something to me… they always keep me underneath their wing, so that’s a big help.”

Robinson added, “My teammates are always getting on me about being confident when I play. Sometimes, I kind of play tentative because I’m a freshman, but I think as the season started going along, I started getting out of that.”

If he continues to do that, Robinson will have many bright spots before he experiences what Nwaukoni and Upshaw did on Saturday.

“It was a very emotional moment [for] me and Zeke,” Nwaukoni said. “ It was a great experience. It’s my last home game. Why not leave it all out on the court? I just came with the mentality before the game, [to] just go all out as soon as I stepped on the court. That’s exactly what I did.”

For Upshaw, it was even more special because of his road to get there.

Unlike Nwaukoni, who was recruited by Hofstra and spent his whole college career there, Upshaw took advantage of a new NCAA rule to go from Illinois State -- where he scored a total of 100 points while playing sparingly over three years -- to finishing his last regular season as the CAA’s second-leading scorer, with 19.6 points per game.

“At Illinois State, I did my best to just keep my confidence up and this year has definitely helped me do that,” Upshaw said. “[The NCAA rule] means everything because without that rule, I wouldn’t be here. I’m definitely supportive of that rule a hundred percent.”

“I think it’s a great rule,” Mihalich added -- a candid admission that drew much laughter from the press room.

Finally given a real chance to show his abilities, Upshaw greatly appreciated the entire night and the season, even through 22 losses.

“It was amazing,” he said. “The amount of people that came out to show support [tonight], it was great. I can’t even describe how good it’s been, and credit to Coach and my teammates for believing in me. This is the best year of my life… and we’re not done yet.”

Both Mihalich and Nwaukoni share that confidence, with the Pride’s coach pointing to close losses in Hofstra’s three previous games.

“We just played the three best teams in the league,” Mihalich said. “Tie game with a minute to go against Delaware, down five, with the ball, 25 seconds to go against (second-seeded) Towson and then William & Mary, down two, with a minute to go. They’re the three best teams in the league and we were right there with them… we respect the heck out of everybody in this league, but we also know that if we play well, we can beat anybody.”

Still, Mihalich knows that any self-assuredness from a regular season sweep over UNCW needs to be carefully tempered by the difficulty of trying to beat a conference rival for a third time in the same season.

“Not to be hypocritical, but [that’s true] on both ends,” he said. “We’re not thinking about the fact that we beat them twice. We’re just thinking about that one game and play as well as we can… and if you can get one, you keep playing.”

Additionally, Hofstra’s lack of depth will become a major concern if the Pride is fortunate to advance. Yet Mihalich chose to take an optimistic approach with that as well.

“That would be a positive problem, if we have to worry about playing four games in four days,” he said, while also revealing Hofstra’s secret weapon in that regard.

“We have a terrific strength and conditioning coach, Brian Burke,” Mihalich said. “[He] does a fantastic job. These guys are in the best shape of their lives, and if we have to dig down deep a little bit, we will.”

As far as thinking that the Pride can win the CAA tournament and earn an automatic NCAA berth, despite its low seed, Nwaukoni isn’t quite ready to call it a career.

“We’re trying to take it all,” he said. 

“We’re trying to win the championship [and] go as far as we can. That’s the goal.”

CAA Men's Basketball Championship Schedule (at Baltimore Arena, Baltimore, MD):

First Round - Friday, March 7
Game 1:  #8 Hofstra vs. #9 UNCW, 7 p.m.

Quarterfinals - Saturday, March 8
Game 2:  #1 Delaware vs. Game 1 Winner, noon
Game 3:  #4 Drexel vs. #5 Northeastern, 2:30 p.m.
Game 4:  #2 Towson vs. #7  James Madison, 6 p.m.
Game 5:  #3 William & Mary vs. #6 College of Charleston, 8:30 p.m.

Semifinals - Sunday, March 9
Game 6:  Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 Winner, 2:30 p.m.
Game 7:  Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, 5 p.m.

Finals - Monday, March 10
Game 8:  Game 6 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner, 7 p.m.