Last-Minute Field Goal Leads Stony Brook Past Men's Basketball in Televised League Game

Stony Brook, N.Y. - Sophomore guard Bryan Dougher made the go-ahead three-point field goal with one minute and eight seconds remaining to lift Stony Brook past UAlbany, 67-61, on Sunday, Jan. 24 at Pritchard Gymnasium.

UAlbany (6-16, AE 1-6) rallied from a 45-42 deficit with 10 of the game's next 12 points. Logan Aronhalt gave his team the lead with a three-pointer from the left wing, before Mike Johnson hit a short jumper in the lane off a drive for a 52-47 cushion. The second half featured six ties and five lead changes.

Stony Brook (14-7, AE 6-2) regrouped with nine unanswered. Tommy Brenton, who had 14 points and eight rebounds, made a 3-pointer from right of the key to help his team regain the lead. Freshman guard Marcus Rouse, who led all scorers with 17 off the bench, drained another long-range shot from the left corner in transition for a 56-52 margin.

UAlbany's Mike Black, who totaled 15 points and five assists, tied the contest at 58 apiece by splitting a pair of free throws. But Muhammad El-Amin moved to the top of the lane and found Dougher open in the right corner to give the Seawolves the lead for good. Brenton later missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, and Black closed the gap to 63-61 with a three-point shot following Brett Gifford's offensive rebound. Dougher sank four free throws in the final 17 seconds to seal the outcome.

"We did a great job on (Bryan) Dougher and made him dribble while limiting his open looks," UAlbany head coach Will Brown said. "They tried to run an isolation play with (Muhammad) El-Amin and good players make that shot. We made progress today and all the freshmen did good things."

The first half set the tone for the tight-fisted battle as Stony Brook took a 26-25 lead to the intermission. The Great Danes built a 23-18 advantage when Black canned a three-point field goal from the right corner. The Seawolves recovered with six unanswered, including Brenton's fastbreak basket that ended the spurt. Tim Ambrose scored on a followed shot of a missed 3-pointer, before Dallis Joyner's inside move put his team in front at the break.

Ambrose finished with 14 points for the Great Danes, who have dropped six of their last seven contests. Jake Lindfors, a redshirt freshman who a key figure throughout the stretch, added seven points, six rebounds and two blocks. SBU's Joyner had 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Seawolves have won seven of their last nine and are off to their best start since joining the conference in 2001-02.

"We did well throughout the game and came together as a team," said Ambrose, whose team was playing without injured standout Will Harris who missed his second straight start with a knee injury. "We need to take care of the ball better and find that last piece at the end of the game."

Paw Prints: Tim Ambrose scored in double figures for the 16th time this season ... Ambrose needs 32 points to reach 1,000 for his career ... Jake Lindfors turned in his best performance since November, as his scoring and rebounding were each one off his career-best ... SBU's Bryan Dougher was 0-of-9 from the field before hitting the go-ahead field goal ... the Seawolves and UAlbany have split 22 games since each program moved to Division I ... the league contest was televised by MSG-Plus and seen on ESPN 360.


Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information