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The Stony Brook Seawolves welcomed the Northeastern Huskies to Pritchard Gymnasium on Wednesday evening for a battle of defending conference regular season champions. In 2012-13, the Seawolves earned their second-straight American East regular season conference title while the Huskies collected their first CAA crown since joining the conference in 2005-06. The two schools were America East foes from 2001-05 before the Huskies left for the Colonial.
Behind strong play from his backcourt trio of Anthony Jackson, Dave Coley and Carson Puriefoy, head coach Steve Pikiell’s team set the tone early, establishing a frenetic pace throughout the entire contest. Jackson, Coley and Puriefoy combined to total 40 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds on 15-30 shooting from the field. Jackson and Coley drilled 5-10 from downtown.
Overall the Seawolves outperformed the Huskies in nearly every aspect of the contest outside of marginally losing the rebounding battle 40-38. Stony Brook knocked down 45 percent of their field goal attempts compared to Northeastern only hitting at 41 percent. According to Stony Brook Athletics, the Seawolves had been shooting 46.25 percent at Pritchard Gymnasium compared to their opponents' 37-percent rate since the start of the 2011-2012 season prior to tonight's matchup.
Stony Brook has been nearly impossible to beat at home under the watch of Pikiell, who has his program off to a 3-0 start for the second consecutive season. With the victory, the Seawolves have now won 13-straight home affairs and are an incredible 27-1 at Pritchard since the start of the 2011-12 season. Fellow Mid-Majors Middle Tennessee and South Dakota State currently share the nation’s longest home winning streak at 30 games a piece.
In the paint, reigning America East Rookie of the Year Jameel Warney was able to battle Northeastern’s redshirt-junior forward Scott Eatherton for the full 40 minutes. While Eatherton did post his second-straight double-double with 20 points and 13 boards, Warney posted a double-double of his own with 14 points and 10 boards. Warney also rejected 3 shots in the final five minutes of the game, providing the final line of defense to hold on to a yet another victory for the home team.
The Seawolves will look build off this momentous victory when they travel to No. 23 Indiana on Sunday.