Men's Basketball
Since its insertion into Division I play Stony Brook Basketball has slowly been improving and level of play has increased while attendance has slowly surged. After lacking success in its initial seven years of the program, being in the bottom positions of the standings from 2002 to 2007, Stony Brook men's basketball has improved under the reign of Steve Pikiell and after back to back winning seasons the program has been lifted. The 2008-09 season was the first season Stony Brook held a winning record in Division I ending 16-14 overall, 8-8 in the America East.
The 2009-2010 year in particular has been the most successful in Stony Brook Men's basketball to date and it was the first time the Men's Basketball finished first in the AEC. The Seawolves were able to reach the top of the America East Conference standings in Men's Basketball (#1 seed) finishing with a school record 13-3, 21-8 and later going on to participate in the AEC Tournament. Participation in the tournament led Stony Brook to win Albany 68-59 to advance to the Semifinals. The Semifinal game was a closed and intense game but resulting in a lost to Boston University, 70-63, falling short of reaching the NCAA tournament. Due to the recent success, Stony Brook was invited to participate in the NIT but fell in the first round to Illinois in a sellout crowd at the Stony Brook Sports Complex.
In 2010-2011 season the Men's Basketball received the largest broadcasting package to date including two games in the ESPN network, and a series of games in the MSG+PLUS network televised in the tri-state area. After a successful season, the seawolves will attempt to qualify for the first time into the NCAA tournament but an injury to forward Tommy Brenton has placed doubt in the ability for Stony Brook to qualify. The Seawolves began their season on November 12 falling at UConn 79-52 but quickly recovered on November 14 to post an impressive 80-43 home-opener win against Mount Ida. Two days later the Seawolves made part of the ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon beating Monmouth on a close 51-49 game.
Stony Brook closed the 2010-11 season with a 8-8, 13-16 overall record and entered the America East tournament seeded as #5 with a quarterfinal match up against #4 Albany. After two regular season losses at Albany the Seawolves were able to use strong defense and a stellar offense to drag a 67-61 win against Albany at Hartford. With Chris Martin(senior) and Leonard Hayes(sophomore) leading the way. The Semifinals were played the next day against #1 Vermont ending in a surprising offensive effort by Stony Brook, who led from the beginning the to end, to capture a 69-47 promising win against a Vermont team who also swept them in the regular season. For the first time in Stony Brook's Division I program history, the Seawolves were to participate in the America East Championship game. There next match up was announced to be the #2 Boston Terriers. On March 12 the Championship was hosted at Agganis Arena by America East Championship higher seed status. Again, Stony Brook with a strong first half offense and good defense led for almost the whole game by as much as 15 points. However, with less than a minute in the clock Boston ties the game for the first time, and then captures the win with a decisive foul on Stony Brook with 2 seconds of regulation left. Boston went on to win 56-54 to end the Seawolves hopes for their first-ever NCAA tournament bid.
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