March 1, 2007

Stony Brook, N.Y. -

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The Stony Brook University men's basketball team takes on Hartford in the America East Tournament on Friday evening at the Agganis Arena in Boston. The winner of the contest will go on to take on No. 1 seed Vermont on Saturday afternoon. The Seawolves are looking to avenge two-regular season losses to the Hawks. The game will be broadcast on WUSB 90.1 and will be video streamed live at Americaeast.com.

Tournament Time
The nine-team field for the 2007 America East Men's Basketball Championship is set. The conference's premier event takes place at Boston University's Agganis Arena on March 2-4, with the title game to be played on March 10 at the higher remaining seed. The league tournament gets underway on Friday, March 2 as No. 9 Stony Brook and No. 8 Hartford square off at 7 p.m. Below is the complete championship bracket.

Men's Basketball Championship Bracket
at Agganis Arena (Boston, Mass.)
Friday, March 2: First Round
#8 Hartford vs. #9 Stony Brook, 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 3: Quarterfinals
#8/9 vs. #1 Vermont, 12 noon
#5 UMBC vs. #4 Maine, 2:30 p.m.
#7 New Hampshire vs. #2 Albany, 6 p.m.
#6 Binghamton vs. #3 Boston U., 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 4: Semifinals
12 noon/2:30 p.m. (AETV: TW3)
Saturday, March 10: Title Game
at higher remaining seed, 12 noon (ESPN2)

Versus The Hawks
• Hartford leads the all-time series, 10-4, and has won the past four meetings.
• In their first meeting at Hartford on January 13, the Hartford men's basketball team rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit past Stony Brook, 50-47. The Seawolves started the game off strong, forcing five Hawk turnovers and grabbing a 13-4 lead just over six minutes into the game. Stony Brook would go on to lead by as much as 10 in the first half after Mike Popoko scored down low to make it a 23-13 SB advantage. The Seawolves forced nine turnovers in the first half and held the Hawks to just 22% shooting (6-27) and 1-of-11 from downtown. The Seawolves went into the locker with a 25-16 advantage, the fourth straight game they have led after the first stanza. After a Kyle Wright three from the right hand side gave Stony Brook a 31-20 lead with 16:18 to play, the Seawolves would not score another field goal in the next 6:07. During the Seawolves drought, Hartford would go on a 12-1 run, tying the game at 32 points apiece. Lucas, the America East Player of the Game for Stony Brook, was the lone Seawolf to score in double figures as he finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. Kyle Wright recorded eight points and seven rebounds and Popoko finished with six points and eight boards.
• On February 11, the Hartford Hawks used a 20-4 run in the second half to propel themselves past SBU, 59-44. Stony Brook's defense was strong early, holding Hartford scoreless until Bo Taylor hit a jumper at the 11:47 mark. Following Taylor's basket, Hartford went on a 7-0 run to open up a 9-5 lead. Both teams started to heat up, trading baskets until Hartford had its biggest lead of the half at 21-14 after a Joe Zeglinski' three-pointer. Two free throws each from Mike Popoko and Mitchell Beauford cut the lead to 21-18 going into the locker room. In the second half, Hartford broke open the game, going on a 20-4 run. During the run, Stony Brook went scoreless for just under six minutes. Popoko scored 10 points for the Seawolves including his 1,000th career point joining D.J. Munir as only the second Seawolf to accomplish the feat in the Seawolves' Division I era. Popoko was named America East co-player of the game. Beauford scored nine points and Tre Cunningham had eight.

Against Vermont
• Vermont leads the all-time series 12-1 as the Seawolves picked up their first ever victory against the Catamounts on January 5, 2006, last season in Stony Brook. Mitchell Beauford's three-point play with 1.5 seconds left in the game put the Seawolves on top.
• In the first meeting of the season this year on January 7 in Vermont, despite receiving double-digit scoring efforts from Ricky Lucas, Mitchell Beauford, and Mike Popoko, the Seawolves fell to Vermont, 80-69. Vermont shot a blistering 60% in the second half en route to 53 points in the stanza. The Catamounts came out of the locker room and went on a 11-2 run over the first 3:23 to take a 38-32 lead that they would not relinquish. Lucas finished the game with 18 points and six rebounds while Beauford added 16 points and four assists. Popoko scored 14 points in the contest and Bamiro ended with nine points and five rebounds. Joe Trapani scored a game-high 23 points while Mike Trimboli finished with 21 points, seven boards, six assists, and five steals.
•At home against the Catamounts on Jan. 28, Vermont netted the first eight points of the game and never looked back as UVM topped the Seawolves, 71-61. The Catamounts roared out to an 8-0 lead forcing the Seawolves to call a timeout. Vermont, who shot 50% in the first half, led by as many as 14 after a trifecta by Kyle Cieplicki with 7:09 left in the first half gave the visitors a 24-10 lead. The Catamounts shot 26-of-32 from the charity stripe in the game.Lucas was the lone Seawolf in double figures as he tallied a game-high 18 points. Freshman Kyle Wright added nine points while classmate Marcus Robinson chipped in with eight. Trimboli scored 17 points to lead three Catamounts in double figures. Cieplicki netted 16 while Holm recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 boards.

Playoff Past
America East playoff's in past
2002 - America East Playoffs
Quarterfinal @Northeastern (Matthews Arena)
vs. Vermont, L 59-74
2003- America East Playoffs
Quarterfinal @Boston Univ. (Walter Brown Arena)
vs. Hartford, L 47-59
2004 - America East Playoffs
First Round Game @ Boston Univ. (Walter Brown Arena)
No. 8 Stony Brook 65, No. 9 UMBC 59
Quarterfinals @ Boston Univ.
No. 8 Stony Brook 62, No. 1 Boston Univ. 58*
Semifinals @ Boston Univ.
No. 8 Stony Brook 54, No. 4 Maine 78
2005 - America East Playoffs
First Round Game @ Binghamton (Events Center)
No. 7 Stony Brook 66, No. 10 New Hampshire 46
Quarterinals @ Binghamton
No. 7 Stony Brook, 79, No. 2 Northeastern 90
2006 - America East Playoffs
First Round Game @ Binghamton (Events Center)
No. 8 UMBC 88, No. 9 Stony Brook 70

Offensive Struggles
The Seawolves have struggled on the offensive side of the ball against Hartford this season. In two games, SB has averaged 45.5 points per game and shot just 35% from the field. Mike Popoko and Ricky Lucas have each averaged just eight points per game.

Playing In
For the second-consecutive season the Seawolves are seeded ninth for the conference tournament. Last season, Stony Brook lost to No. 8 UMBC, 88- 70, in first round play. The No. 9 seed is 5-12 (.294) all-time in tournament action with all five victories coming in the first round.

Ricky's Maine Target
Ricky Lucas has been terrific all year against Maine. Lucas has averaged 21.5 points per game and went for 21 points and seven rebounds versus the Black Bears on Feb. 25th. The junior guard went 4 of 8 downtown and 8 of 17 overall from the field.

Dishing It Mitch
Mitchell Beauford tied his career-high for assists against Maine as he handed out seven in the contest. He had previously notched seven assists last season in the play-in game of the America East Tournament against UMBC. It was the second-highest assist total for a Seawolf this season as Eddie Castellanos recorded eight assists at Notre Dame.