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Men's Basketball Splits With Stony Brook to End Regular Season
Short Story: UAlbany closes the regular season splitting with Stony Brook to finish fifth in the America East behind 18 points from CJ Kelly leading five Great Danes in double-figures.
Key Stats
CJ Kelly finished with 18 points and nine rebounds
Five Great Danes scored in double-figures
Stony Brook shot 2-10 from three in the first half
UAlbany clinches the five-seed for the 2021 Hercules Tires America East Playoffs
Stony Brook ended the game shooting 1-14 from three
Stony Brook outscored UAlbayn 35-9 off the bench but was shut out in transition
Coach Brown: "Today was a good, solid overall effort. We tweaked one or two things on the court this morning. And we did a much better job with our ball movement. We did a really good job getting rid of the ball when they ran a defender at us. We got into a better flow and rhythm today offensively because we didn't take the ball into bad spots. If we end up playing Stony Brook again, we have to do a much better job with our physicality and our block-outs, but it's always nice to end the regular season with a win."
How it Happened
Antonio Rizzuto kicked off the game draining a three-pointer to quickly put UAlbany ahead. The Great Danes ultimately opened the game on a 7-0 run, holding Stony Brook scoreless for the first 2:56 of game time.
Trailing 11-4, Stony Brook scored five-straight to cut UAlbany's lead to two. With 11:41 to go in the first, Stony Brook took their first lead of the game, hitting a three to go up 15-14.
UAlbany retook the lead with 9:38 remaining when Sam Shafer hit a jumper to put the Great Danes up one. From there, UAlbany went on a 12-2 run to take a double-digit lead, 30-20, with 5:00 before the break
UAlbany entered halftime leading 38-30. CJ Kelly had scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds. UAlbany bounced back from its cold shooting on Saturday to convert 44.4% of their shots in the first half. UAlbany had outscored Stony Brook 7-1 in second-chance opportunities, and 7-0 in transition.
UAlbany scored the first four points after halftime to take a 12-point lead. Stony Brook cut their deficit to single-digits with 14:03 to go before UAlbany re-extended the lead to 10 on their ensuing possession. Mid-way through the second half, Stony Brook had managed to cut the lead to six.
With 7:07 remaining, Stony Brook closed within five, the closest they would come for the rest of the game. UAlbany pulled away again to lead by 10 just over a minute later, and held on to claim an eight-point, 67-59 victory.
Kelly finished with a game-high 18 points, to go along with nine rebounds and four assists. Rizzuto, Kellon Taylor, Jarvis Doles, and Jamel Horton each scored 10 points. UAlbany shut Stony Brook out in transition points 9-0, despite Stony Brook's sizeable advantage in bench scoring, 35-9.
Next: UAlbany has clinched the five-seed in the 2021 Hercules Tires America East Playoffs and will play eight-seed NJIT on February 27 at 5:00 pm at Hartford.
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