Stony Brook, Hartford to Play For Second Seed Tuesday

STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Heading into the regular season finale, there is an extra prospective home game to play for when the Stony Brook men's basketball team takes the court on Tuesday night against Hartford. If the Seawolves win, they will take the second seed in the upcoming 2019 America East Men's Basketball Playoffs, with a guaranteed semifinal home game with a quarterfinal win. A loss puts the Seawolves in the four slot, with just one guaranteed home game. THE OPPONENT Hartford rallied from a 22-point deficit on Saturday night to defeat Albany in overtime at the Chase Arena, 82-80 to keep a Top 2 seed alive for the second consecutive year. George Blagojevic played 40 of the 45 minutes, hitting 10 of his 20 shots and leading the Hawks with 22 points. J.R. Lynch chipped in 19 points to help the comeback. Lynch leads four double-figure scorers for John Gallagher's club, scoring 16.1 per night for the Hawks on 45 percent shooting (41.3 percent from three). Blagojevic is the team's leading rebounder, hauling in 7.8 boards per contest. The Hawks are the league's leading 3-point shooting team, hitting 38.8 percent from outside and making 9.9 per night from outside. Lynch has played the seventh-most minutes in the country, clocking in 1127 this season. THE SERIES Stony Brook leads the overall series 25-15 in a series that dates back to 2002. Stony Brook has won 21 of the last 23 editions of this matchup, including a 86-77 victory at Island Federal Arena on February 2. Sophomore Elijah Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) had a career-high 28 points, while Akwasi Yeboah (Chigwell, England) and Andrew Garcia (Harlem, N.Y.) charted double-doubles. EVERYBODY GETS A BUCKET! For the second time this season, the Seawolves finished with five players in double figures in the team's win against UMBC on Wednesday night. Akwasi Yeboah (Chigwell, England), Miles Latimer (Fairfax, Va.), Andrew Garcia (Harlem, N.Y.), Jaron Cornish (Abaco, Bahamas) and Elijah Olaniyi (Newark, N.J.) all chipped in 10 points or more to help Stony Brook defeat the defending champions. This has happened only four times since Jeff Boals took over during the 2016-17 season and all four occasions have turned into victories, including wins this season against South Carolina and UMBC. The Seawolves will host the America East Quarterfinals on Saturday night, playing either No. 7 Binghamton or No. 5 UMass Lowell at 7 p.m. at Island Federal Arena.