Men’s basketball loses heartbreaker

 The University at Albany men's basketball team held a lead for much of the second half but couldn't hang on as Stony Brook defeated the Danes 68-66 on Friday on Senior Night at SEFCU Arena.

   The Danes fought hard down to the final seconds after holding several leads against Stony Brook, who is tied for first in the America East Conference, before falling on a last-second shot by Muhammad El-Amin.

   Prior to the game, seniors Will Harris, Scotty McRae and Brett Gifford were all honored as part of Senior Night. Louis Barraza, a junior whose career was likely ended by an abdominal injury, was also honored. What followed that ceremony was a game that all of them would be proud to say they were a part of.

   It didn't start out that way, however, as the Seawolves (20-7, 12-2 AE) came out strong, knocking down five 3-pointers in the opening 6:42 to put them out in front 17-4 early in the contest. El-Amin consistently found the net, hitting shots that appeared to be impossible to make and doing so with a deft shooting touch.

The Danes (7-22, 2-12 AE) then started to fight back. With the score 33-18 with 3:10 to play in the half, UAlbany went on an 11-2 run to end the half, thanks to the seemingly dominant play of McRae, who scored six straight points. The run was capped off by a Harris 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the teams into the locker room with the score 35-29.

   Following the first ten minutes of poor play, the Danes were able to steady the ship and play with the energy level necessary to win.

   "I thought this was a night where we got it from everybody," coach Will Brown said. "I didn't take (Gifford) or (McRae) out in the second half, which was amazing. I told some of the guys that didn't play a lot in the second half that we had a group that was playing well and there was no need to take them out."

   Albany came out strong in the second half and was able to tie the game at 42 when Logan Aronhalt hit a 3-pointer, sending the SEFCU crowd into a frenzied state.

   The teams traded baskets until the 8:55 mark when McRae was on the free throw line after being fouled. After missing the second shot, Tim Ambrose snuck behind Stony Brook's Tommy Brenton to snag the rebound and bank in an easy layup to give Albany a 55-54 lead, their first of the game.

   After Mike Black hit a three to make the score 64-61, the Seawolves responded when Bryan Dougher hit a three of his own to tie the game. The teams traded layups before the final minute when McRae missed a long shot with the shot clock expiring and 40 seconds on the game clock. The Seawolves then called timeout with 32 seconds left to diagram their final play.

   They came out from the timeout held the ball before El-Amin drove on defender Billy Allen, pulled up and drained a shot with 1.8 seconds on the clock.

   With no timeouts left, Albany's last resort was to heave a full-court shot which landed well short, ending the game and denying the Danes their first home win since Jan. 16.
 

  "Down the stretch our guys executed out of both timeouts what we wanted," said Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell, whose team has won 20 games for the first time since 1991. "[El-Amin] made the play and he wanted the ball and I wanted to give it to him. He made a big play, it's unfortunate it came down to that. I knew Albany was going to play well, I really respect the program here."

   After the game, despite their heads hung low as a result of the loss, the Danes' were proud of the effort they put on the court.
   "Whenever you lose it stings but I think that we left everything we had on the floor tonight," said Harris, who finished the game with a team-leading 17 points. "For me, leaving everything on the floor is the most important thing and we did a whole lot of good things tonight and everybody played tough, everybody played hard, everybody played together."

   "Aside from Senior Night, I feel like we (the seniors) led tonight by example," McRae said. "The first ten minutes were rough but after we got back in the game and started making our run everyone fed off the energy. We were hitting threes, got a couple dunks and I feel those are momentum plays that can help the crowd and bench get into the game."

   The Danes will next play Wednesday at Maine before traveling to Hartford for their final regular season game before the America East Tournament, which begins Mar. 4 in Hartford.
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   Senior point guard Mike Johnson did not dress for the second straight game and was not recognized as part of Senior Night after refusing to enter the Big Purple Growl in the game's final minutes.