STONY BROOK, N.Y. — For the second straight game, Brown men’s basketball was plagued by inconsistency and found itself in a double-digit second-half hole. Unlike last week’s victory over Siena, however, Bruno couldn’t muster any last-second magic and fell to Stony Brook, 69-65, at Island Federal Credit Union Arena.
The Bears (4-10) started with a different rotation on Friday night, adding senior guard Kimo Ferrari and sophomore wing Alexander Lesburt Jr., in place of Felix Kloman and Aaron Cooley, respectively. In addition, Malachi Ndur, who averages over 12 minutes a game, only played four minutes in the second half.
According to coach Mike Martin, who spoke with Ivy Hoops Online following the game, the changes were due to internal team policy issues.
The visitors took a 7-2 lead in the opening minutes, before the Seawolves erupted for a 14-0 run to build a nine-point lead around the halfway point of the opening frame.
Brown regrouped with a 15-4 run of its own, punctuated by a Kino Lilly Jr. three-pointer with just under seven minutes left in the half to give the lead back to Bruno, 22-20.
By the 3:20 mark, the Bears had a six-point advantage, but the lead was cut to one, 34-33, at the break.
Over the first 20 minutes, Brown shot well from the outside, hitting five triples at a 45% success rate, way ahead of its 27% season average. It also had good offensive balance with six different players scoring three or more points. On the defensive side, the Bears held Stony Brook to 27% shooting (3-for-11) from deep and a 17% advantage on the boards.
“I thought our first-half offense, after the tough start, was really good,” Martin said. “We were sharing it, we had 10 assists, there was good ball movement and guys were shooting with confidence.”
The Seawolves came out of the locker room on fire, jumping out to a 22-6 run for a 55-50 lead by the under 12-minute timeout. During that time, Stony Brook shot 8-for-12, including three triples, while Brown went 3-for-13 overall and 0-for-4 from three.
After the hosts went up 16, 65-49, with just under seven minutes remaining in regulation, Bruno made its last big push.
The Bears, who deferred most of the offense to Lilly after falling behind, went back to the balanced attack that worked well in the opening 20 minutes.
Back-to-back triples by Nana Owusu-Anane and Cooley, followed by a driving jumper from Ferrari made it a 65-57 game with 4:30 t0 go.
Following a Stony Brook bucket, Lilly scored five straight points over the next two minutes, including a 3-for-3 effort from the charity stripe, to cut the deficit to five, 67-62.
With the Seawolves on the ropes, turning the ball over for only the fourth time on the night and missing the front end of a one-and-one, Owusu-Anane hit a layup to make it 67-64 and was fouled on the play.
The Canadian big man missed the free throw, but the Bears grabbed the offensive rebound.
Sophomore forward Kalu Anya missed a layup, and Ferrari fouled Stony Brook sophomore guard Jared Frey with 40 seconds remaining. Frey missed his opening free throw, and the ball was corralled by Cooley.
Lilly took a strong shot from the right baseline, but his three pointer was off the mark. Anya was there for the team’s 11th offensive rebound of the game.
Coming out of a timeout, Anya went up for a layup but was fouled with only eight seconds on the clock.
The 6-foot-8 sophomore hit a bank shot free throw to make it 67-65, but his second attempt hit the front of the rim and the Seawolves grabbed the board in the right corner.
Once Stony Brook graduate guard Aaron Clarke made both ends of the one-and-one, his 15th and 16th points of the second half to make it a four-point game with six seconds left, the game was effectively over.
“Pleased with the fight that we showed,” Martin said. “Unfortunately, we put ourselves in a position where we had to be near perfect in the last seven minutes.”
In the second half, Brown only shot 39% (7-for-18) from two and 20% (3-for-15) from three but managed to make 80% (8-for-10) of its free throws. While Stony Brook shot 59% (10-for-17) from inside the arc, it only made 33% (3-for-9) from downtown and 67% (7-for-11) from the charity stripe. The hosts did grab five more rebounds during the latter 20 minutes, however, the Seawolves only had a 1% advantage on the glass.
Lilly tied for the game high of 19 points in the defeat. While he hit all three of his free throws, he only made 38% (5-for-13) of his two-pointers and 17% (2-for-12) from beyond the arc. This was his second straight 2-for-12 performance from three, but Martin isn’t worried since his All-Ivy First Team playmaker is getting good looks and not forcing shots.
Anya had eight points on the night, as well as game highs of 10 rebounds and two blocks.
“Kalu is just a super-talented player,” Martin said after the game. “He’s got so much versatility on both offense and defense. He can make so many great plays. He covers so much for us defensively, whether he’s guarding the ball or off the ball. I think he’s going to have a really good January, February and March for us.”
In his fourth start of the year and only his ninth appearance this season, Ferrari tallied 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists on the night.
“It’s huge to have Kimo back. He’s missed quite a bit of game time to injuries,” Martin mentioned. “Having him back gives us another playmaker, another shooter, great defender and experienced senior at both ends of the court.”
For the victorious Seawolves, Clarke finished with 19 points on 46% shooting, six rebounds, two steals and an assist. Keenan Fitzmorris, a 7-foot graduate transfer from Stanford, added 16 points on 64% from the field, four boards and two assists.
Next up for Brown is its non-conference finale against Vermont (9-5) on Tuesday night. After that, the Bears will have a week off before staring league play against defending regular season champion Yale (7-6) at the Pizzitola Sports Center on January 9.
“Obviously, we know what we’re working towards (Ivy League title and tournament),” the coach reflected. “We just want to keep growing, keep developing, keep getting better, and play with confidence. The more we can limit our turnovers, be a little bit more efficient on offense, the better chance we’re going to give ourselves against the (Ivy League) teams we’re going to have to beat.”