STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Stony Brook has long been dismissed as the dregs of the America East conference: a perennial bottom-feeder with no hope in sight. But after a 71-50 come from behind win against Lehigh, the Seawolves showed that this year’s squad is everything that last year’s was not, as they played as a team, and more importantly, with heart.
When I talked to Steve Pikiell one lazy August day last summer, Stony Brook’s head coach radiated with boundless energy and enthusiasm, raved about his incoming freshman class, and glowed when talking about the competition at every position and depth across the board. Pikiell talked himself into a frenzy when describing just how hard his “kids” were going at it every practice, and how they were coming together as a team.
It was impossible not to get caught up in Pikiell’s excitement.
It was also impossible not to think that all the losing on Long Island might have finally gotten to Pikiell, maybe he’d finally cracked: How could the coach of such a bad team for the past three years, a coach whose head has been repeatedly called for over the past two seasons, be so upbeat, so optimistic?
In his three previous years at the helm of the Seawolves, Stony Brook spent three straight years in the basement, three straight appearances in the America East Tournament play-in game, and had amassed winning percentage worse than the batting average of a utility infielder.
The Seawolves had been a walking disaster: they lacked any team identity, along with any semblance of an offensive game plan. On the floor, Stony Brook looked like five individuals with plenty of athleticism, but no basketball training, and no interest in sharing the rock. Last season Stony Brook ranked last in the America East conference in scoring, assists, field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentages, and three-pointers made.
Fans were quick to call for Pikiell’s head. He was signed to the most lucrative contract in the league, yet he had produced the worst winning percentage among all active coaches.
What many didn’t realize was the during Pikiell’s first season as coach, Stony Brook was under NCAA sanctions dating back to the previous coaching staff, and only had six eligible scholarship players on its roster. In fact, the Seawolves did not field a team with a full 13 scholarship players until this season.
Fans are fickle. Once you fall into their doghouse, it’s hard to find your way back into good graces. Fans yawned when Stony Brook opened the season with a win over University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, and later at back-to-back wins over Columbia and New Jersey Institute of Technology. Those games, you’re supposed to win. Three straight losses to Lafayette, Wagner, and American, and it’s the same old Stony Brook, right?
Wrong.
Sure, the Seawolves’ first three wins of the season were against teams at the bottom of the Division I totem pole, but they are games that Stony Brook could, and would, have lost in previous years. In fact, last season Stony Brook lost to UMES and was destroyed by Columbia, losing by 20. Stony Brook showed more collective heart through their first five games than they had in the past three years, fighting down to the wire in valiant comebacks against Wagner and a very good American team, something that was unheard of last season when the Seawolves would roll over and die once they fell behind.
Stony Brook also proved they could win the close game, beating Columbia at the wire 62-60. They were 0-4 last year in games decided by 3 or fewer points.
The Seawolves also have gotten a huge boost from an exciting quartet of freshmen in 6’5″ high-energy, high-flying, do-everything forward Tommy Brenton, point guard Brian Dougher, 6’8″ 260 pound bruiser Dallis Joyner, and 6’9″ sharpshooting Brit-import Danny Carter.
Each of the four freshmen has had at least one game as Stony Brook’s high scorer, with Brenton taking center stage in the early going by ripping down 16 rebounds in his first collegiate game. He ranks 4th in the conference in boards per game.
Fans still dismissed Stony Brook as another bottom feeder and train wreck in waiting. But they can’t ignore the signs anymore. The Seawolves are finally heading in the right direction.
Last Thursday night, when Stony Brook tipped off against Lehigh, it was the kind of opponent that would have ended in the Seawolves getting run out of the gym a year ago: Lehigh was an experienced, veteran-heavy team coming in off of a win over Rutgers of the Big East.
In the early going, it looked like it would be a long night for Stony Brook. Lehigh pushed the lead to eleven, and Stony Brook sputtered badly out of the gate. Yet Pikiell’s young squad never buckled, never backed down, and played with heart and desire never before seen in their neck of Long Island. They came together as a team behind the terrific play of veterans Chris Martin, Marqus Cox, and transfer Desmond Adedeji.
The Seawolves clamped down in the second half on the defensive end, and after going into the intermission down 27-22, blew the Mountain Hawks out of the water, outscoring them 49-23 in the second half. The Seawolves won by working the ball into the post, locking down on defense, running like a finely tuned machine on offense, and most importantly playing with a tremendous collective heart. And they came back from a halftime deficit, something that proved next to impossible last season.
“We won this game with a great defensive effort in the second half, I couldn’t be prouder of the effort and intensity our team played with tonight after falling behind early,” Pikiell reflected after the game.
Throughout the season, Martin has shown glimpses of the potential he oozed when he was signed as part of Pikiell’s 2006 freshman class. But Martin never qualified academically, and sat out getting his grades in order. Unable to practice with the team his first year in school, much of last year was a wash for Martin, who had to re-adjust to the college game.
But this year looks different, as the 6’1″, 230-pound tank of a guard has done everything while coming off the bench for the Seawolves. Martin has stepped up in the place of Eddie Castellanos, who was lost for the season during the first game of the year, to handle the back-up point guard duties. He has served as instant offense, and the best sixth man in the America East.
“Chris has all the potential to be a very special player when all is said and done. He has done a terrific job of handling the point, he can really get to the hoop, and he has just gotten into terrific shape, he went from being over 20 percent body fat to down under 10,” said Pikiell.
Martin showed flashes in the early going, including the game winning tip in against Colgate, and a terrific second half against American in which he almost single-handedly led a comeback. Against Lehigh, Martin was nails, going for a season-high 19 points, and 13 in the second half. Martin scored from inside and out, showing of a refined shooting touch, and proved to be the X-factor that Stony Brook was lacking last season: someone who can create his own shot, and get to the basket and the free-throw line (he went 11 for 11 from the charity stripe). Martin attacked the rim with abandon, finishing with acrobatic lay-ups or hard earned trips to the line.
No player better embodied the new-look Seawolves than Adedeji, a transfer from Dayton who conducted a clinic in his first meaningful minutes of the season. He gave the Seawolves an instant low post presence, something that was non-existent for the past three seasons. The 6’10”, 315-pound center shook the floorboards when he entered the game for the first time, and shook the gym when he almost brought the backboard, and roof, down with a monster two-handed slam with 12:46 left in the second half.
“‘Big Des’ brings a new dimension to our team, and when he gets into game shape, he could be a game-changer,” said Pikiell.
Adedeji only played 17 minutes, but he lived up to Pikiell’s description. He truly changed the lane, scoring 11 points on 5-9 shooting to go with nine rebounds and three blocks, and drew constant double and triple teams, freeing up the rest of Stony Brook’s offense.
He also brought the crowd back into the game.
Before Adedeji’s support-shaking dunk, Stony Brook trailed 38-30, but it energized the crowd of more than a thousand, and began a 41-12 Seawolves run to close out the game.
The unsung hero was Cox, a four-year walk-on whom has gone from practice player to defensive stopper. Cox emerged early in the season as a new player, a lock-down one-on-one defender that the Seawolves have never seen before. Cox has been put in man-to-man coverage against opponents’ best offensive guards and thrived, shutting down American’s Garrison Carr. Carr at the time was averaging over 20 points per game, but had just 10 points on 3-9 shooting. Against Lehigh he continued to shine, holding star guard Marquis Hall to 13 points, frustrating him into 4-12 shooting, and 3-8 behind the arc.
“There just isn’t a better story than Marques. He’s our leader, and he has worked as hard as humanly possible from day one in the program, and he has become a huge weapon for us on the defensive end” said Pikiell.
The Seawolves aren’t ready to contend for a conference title, but they are headed in the right direction. With talent, depth, and a newfound team identity, Stony Brook is going to be able to put a scare into a lot of America East teams.
