Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell and his program have come a long way from a team that lost their first nine games for him in the 2005-06 season. Continue reading “Steve Pikiell on 3-0 Seawolves Start, Road Trip to Indiana”
In a 73-66 victory for the Stony Brook Seawolves over Northeastern that sent the team to their second-straight 3-0 start, there wasn’t meant to be a scare from the team’s top player.
The air almost fully deflated out of Pritchard Gymnasium with 14:45 left in the second half when the America East’s favorite for Player of the Year hit the ground, slow to get up, favoring his right knee.
Sophomore Jameel Warney, contesting a rebound off a Carson Puriefoy missed layup, went down underneath the Stony Brook basket and laid in pain as Northeastern’s Zach Stahl went to the other end for a layup to tie the game at 38. Warney laid on the ground briefly, got up under his own power and quietly exited the floor to the training table behind the bench.
“I felt like I couldn’t sit out for the game,” Warney said. “It doesn’t matter how bad my knee hurt.”
Warney got stretched out by the trainers for about 45 seconds, head coach Steve Pikiell was told by the trainers he was okay and less than a minute later, Warney checked back in at the scorers table.
He would return to the game with 13:50 left with Stony Brook up 40-38 after an Anthony Jackson jumper. Puriefoy looked for Warney on the offensive end and his quick lay in gave the Seawolves a 42-38 lead. After a Stahl missed three-pointer, Puriefoy pused the ball in transition and despite his missed layup, Warney was there for the offensive rebound and put back to extend the Stony Brook lead to seven.
“I really wasn’t playing really good on offense so I decided I owed it to the team to play good defense and be active,” Warney said. “My chances came and I took them.”
Warney finished the game with his second straight double-double, 14 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks; all of his blocks coming after his injury scare.
The Huskies appeared to close the gap again when Scott Eatherton grabbed an offensive board on a Reggie Spencer post up miss and threw down a dunk to make it 51-50. However, Eatherton could not convert the traditional three-point play and the Seawolves would not let them get any closer.
Anthony Jackson drained an 18-footer near the Stony Brook bench to put the Seawolves up three.
“I was looking to throw it in to the big fella [Warney],” Jackson said who led the Seawolves for the third straight game with 17 points. “I just saw an opening and just taking what the defense gave me. I took the shot, no hesitation.”
Anthony Mayo missed a 17-footer but redshirt freshman Ahmad Walker converted a tip in to increase the lead to five. Redshirt sophomore Scott King made a three pointer from the left baseline and drew a foul to increase the lead to 58-50 with 5:04 left.
“We’re starting to formulate our substations,” Pikiell said of his rotation. “We’re still a work in progress.”
Scott Eatherton led all scorers with 20 points and 13 rebounds, both game highs, for Northeastern. He and Reggie Spencer, who scored 18 points, gave the Seawolves all they could handle inside between Warney and senior Eric McAlister.
“Our game plan was to not let the other guys beat us,” Pikiell said. “We did a good job of keeping guys out of the lane they had a lot of length on us at the guard spots. We pressured them and we got out and ran and got some easy baskets.”
Northeastern shot 41.7-percent from the field for the game, but made critical mistakes late. With Stony Brook up 55-50, the Seawolves defense swarmed and forced Spencer into a shot clock violation. From there the Huskies never closed the gap closer than five points.
Stony Brook opened up a close game with a 11-4 run, capped with a Dave Coley deep three pointer from the top of the key to give the Seawolves a 24-15 lead. From there the Huskies went to work inside, scoring 16 of their first half points in the paint and closing the gap to two after a Reggie Spencer hook shot over Warney. From there Stony Brook responded extending the lead to six with a Carson Puriefoy reverse layup over the Huskies 2-3 zone to give and the Seawolves carried a 32-27 lead into halftime.
Ryan Restivo covers the America East for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.
With 3:44 left remaining in the season opener, Marist junior Chavaughn Lewis went coast to coast and missed a layup, off the ensuring rebound, Stony Brook redshirt-freshman Ahmad Walker grabbed the rebounds elbows high.
His swinging elbows hit Lewis in the head, forcing Lewis to the ground near the Marist baseline. The referees assessed Walker with a flagrant one foul for his elbow as Lewis stayed on the ground for over a minute with his hands on his head. Lewis was bleeding and appeared to be elbowed to the mouth when the team trainer assessed his condition.
Marist assistant coach Paul Lee walked out near the scorers table and responded to Stony Brook fans heckling the referees for a foul prior to the elbow. Lee pointed to the crowd near the scorers table and yelled.
“The guy’s bleeding over there and you guys are going to complain about the refs, assholes,” Lee said into the crowd before walking back to the Marist bench.
Named interim head coach upon Marist letting go of Chuck Martin, Bower retained Lee on the staff as an assistant coach once he was hired. Lee said it was a spur of the moment reaction and that he panicked when he saw Lewis on the ground.
“He’s almost like my son, I count him as one of my sons,” Lee said. “When he’s there bleeding, I’m almost crying, that’s how I feel about that kid. I didn’t know what happened. I thought he maybe had a concussion, I could see the blood coming out, I panicked.”
Lee said that he wanted to protect the junior Lewis. Bower said he did not hear Lee’s reaction on the floor during the game.
“My reaction is I don’t think you ever acknowledge the crowd and what things are said,” Bower said when he heard of Lee’s reaction. “We had enough to worry about with the game, to worry about the crowd, I wasn’t aware of that.”
Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell characterized Walker’s flagrant foul as a freshman mistake.
“He’s a freshman and freshman make those kind of mistakes,” Pikiell said. “He’s a tough kid and they jumped right in his grill. He needs to do a better job of securing the rebound and letting them foul him.”
Senior Anthony Jackson, who led the Seawolves with a career-high 22 points, said he went to calm Walker down and tell him the officials are trying to protect the players.
“I went up to Ahmad and just told him the referees are sharp,” Jackson said. ” They are trying to protect themselves as well as protect the game.
“My thought was just a freshman mistake,” sophomore Jameel Warney said. “I just told him to keep on playing, if it’s a flagrant it’s a bad mistake, but he’ll learn from it.”
Bower said after the game that he was hoping to learn more from the trainers as to the extent of Lewis’ injury.
“I know injuries are a part of every season,” Bower said. “I expect to deal with that, I’m hopeful I’m not dealing with it after tonight, but every team is held captive by that fact. When they come we’ll just have to deal with it and move along and do the best we can with the opportunities that it presents for other players.”
Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and America East Conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.
Stony Brook used a 15-1 run to wrest control of the first half from Marist, and from there expanded their lead as large as 19 in their 71- 55 victory on Friday at a sold out Pritchard Gym.
Despite the loss of America East Player of the Year Tommy Brenton, senior Anthony Jackson scored a career-high 22 points to pace the Seawolves offense. Continue reading “Stony Brook 71, Marist 55”
One Stony Brook player who will not be making his debut in the season opener against Marist will be true freshman Roland Nyama, who will be redshirted for the 2013-14 season.
“It’s just a lot for him too coming here from Germany after being in prep school for a couple seasons here in the United States, he’s really going through a lot of adjustments,” Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said during the preseason. “You can see his abilities on the floor. I think his potential is off the charts good.”
Nyama profiles as the replacement to senior Dave Coley as the shooting guard spot for the 2014-15 season. With Stony Brook’s top two guard spots being contested by seniors Coley, Anthony Jackson and sophomore Carson Puriefoy, Nyama’s playing time would have suffered.
Sophomore Jameel Warney said that Nyama “has the potential to be something special.” Though Nyama will have to wait until next season to showcase his talent after coming from the Holderness School.
Redshirt freshman Ahmad Walker won the starting small forward spot after a strong preseason.
Ryan Restivo covers the America East for Big Apple Buckets, read his America East preview on ESPN.com as part of the ESPN Insider College Hoops 2013-14 Preview. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.
Two of Stony Brook’s senior captains, Dave Coley and Anthony Jackson, have seen a change in their time in the program. Continue reading “Jackson and Coley Preparing for Senior Season at Stony Brook”
Ken Pomeroy’s preseason rankings are out. We don’t have a fancy Q&A for those because Ken explains most of the process on his site every year. Still, there are definitely a few things worth pointing out. Continue reading “Brief Thoughts on Ken Pomeroy’s Preseason Rankings”
After a season where the Stony Brook Seawolves won their most games in school history, they arguably return a more talented group in hopes of increasing their chances of breaking through to the NCAA tournament. Continue reading “Stony Brook Starters Almost Set”
One of the most consistent facts about Stony Brook’s historic season in 2013 was Jameel Warney’s improvement every night he stepped onto the court. Continue reading “Stony Brook’s Jameel Warney Preps for Improved Sophomore Season”
Stony Brook sophomore forward Jameel Warney burst onto the scene his freshman year, and burst might be an understatement. For his first year not only did he gradually get better, but dominatied in conference play. He averaged 12.8 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game in conference play while leading the league in field goal percentage making 65% of his shots. Warney won Rookie of the Year last year and made the second team All-Conference. Coaches around the league cite him as a nightmare to match up against and he is our pick for America East preseason Player of the Year.
Big Apple Buckets: A lot of places are picking you for preseason Player of the Year, what do you take away from that?
Jameel Warney: That some people in the league are noticing my talent, what I can do, but at the end of the day it’s just a preseason poll so it’s not really doing anything for me.
Big Apple Buckets: Do you feel like that selection is warranted after how you played last season?
Jameel Warney: I think it’s okay but I think there’s a few people out there that who have the same talent as me as in Brian Voekel in Vermont and the kid in Hartford, but we just have to it’s just all about the team. Continue reading “Q&A with Big Apple Buckets’ America East Preseason Player of the Year Jameel Warney”
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