Danes shoot past Stony Brook, advance to conference championship

Stony Brook, NY- Third time’s the charm.

In their third matchup of the season, the UAlbany Great Danes defeated the Stony Brook Seawolves for the first time this season, by a score of 63-56 at Island Federal Credit Union Arena Monday night on the campus of Stony Brook.

The win sends Albany to this years America East Championship, their third in four years, where they will travel to Burlington, Vermont, to face off with the #1 seed and league undefeated Catamounts for a chance to make the NCAA Tournament.

The matchup is set for 11 AM Saturday at Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington on ESPN2.

Albany will look to hand Vermont their first loss since December 21st, 2016, when the Catamounts lost at then #13 Butler by 12. The Catamounts haven’t lost at home since December 10th, a two point defeat to Northeastern.

Albany held the lead for over 30 minutes of game action, although it didn’t come without adversity. After a solid first half that ended on a 12-2 run, including a 35 foot buzzer beater by Costa Anderson, the Danes took an eight point advantage into the break with all the momentum on the visitors side after the buzzer beater by Anderson.

In the second half, Albany picked up right where they left off, beginning the half on a 9-4 run to push their lead into double digits for the first time. Stony Brook countered however, moving to a three quarter court press defense, the same one that forced the Danes to have a 21-point meltdown in January and lose to Stony Brook, and allowed Stony Brook to go on a 10-0 run and cut the lead to three with 13:29 to go. Another meltdown seemed imminent.

But Albany didn’t break.

The Danes fought back. Travis Charles had a hook shot in the paint to push the lead back to five. After back-and-forth possessions had Albany’s lead at four with 7:40 left, Devonte Campbell hit a pair of big free throws and another bucket to make the lead eight with seven minutes remaining.

Albany, while struggling with the Stony Brook press and putting points on the board, stepped up defensively. After Stony Brook’s 10-0 run, the Seawolves only managed nine points from the field in the final 13:25.

Stony Brook had a mini 6-2 run with just minutes left in the game to cut the lead back down to two, but Greig Stire stepped up and hit a big layup to spark a 8-3 run to end the game and finish the Seawolves off. And just like that, Albany had gone down to Stony Brook, and after suffering defeats in the two regular season matches, had knocked them off to go back to the America East Finals for the fourth time in five years.

After this game, the mood was a little more light-hearted then the last two times these two teams played.

“We are pumped,” UAlbany Head Coach Will Brown said postgame. “To quote Hartford coach John Gallagher, we are the loosest, most excited team in the country right now.”

UAlbany lost to Vermont 60-49 at SEFCU Arena and 62-50 in Burlington. The two offensive outputs were the lowest scoring games Albany had all season. Brown put the emphasis on scoring the ball if they want a chance to pull off another upset and get back to the big dance.

“We have to score the ball,” Brown said.” “We have to get into the 60s to win. We can’t score 49 and 50.”

That scoring will need to come from David Nichols, who finished with a team-high 19 on the night, and Joe Cremo, who finished with 13. Devonte Campbell, who was a big factor in the offense opening up opportunities Monday night, will need to do the same Saturday morning. He finished with 16, including 8-10 from the free throw line, to go with a team high seven rebounds and a pair of steals.

Brown said the team plans to head up to Burlington Thursday, practice Friday, and play Saturday.

The focus, for the team, is all on the next game.

“This is an opportunity every team in the country would want to have,” Nichols said.