The Marist defense (8-3) held its opponent, Stony Brook (8-5), to under 60 points for the fifth time this season, and they added 14 assists on offense, leading to a convincing 70-51 win.
The Red Foxes honed in on Stony Brook’s leading scorer, graduate student guard Erik Pratt, holding him to 11 points. Marist forced 13 turnovers and limited the Seawolves to 30 percent shooting.
Marist showed their depth as they had six players score over five points. The Red Foxes guards led the way; senior Elijah Lewis had 16, and graduate student Rhyjon Blackwell added 17.
Senior forward Jaden Daughtry got himself started right out the gates as he parted the Seawolves’ defense twice, converting on easy left-handed layups. Stony Brook couldn’t get anything going against Marist’s stellar defense after two early buckets, as they went on a three-minute scoring drought.
Marist took advantage of Stony Brook’s stagnant offense, going on a 12-0 run with buckets from Lewis and Blackwell.
Stony Brook finally broke their scoring drought as Pratt glided into the lane for an easy floater.
Off the bench, sophomore forward Parby Kabamba found his shot early, scoring seven points in just over two minutes. The Red Foxes kept turning their defense into offense as freshman forward Myles Parker used his length for an easy steal and fast-break layup, giving Marist a 21-9 lead, forcing a Seawolves timeout.
The Stony Brook offense made some uncharacteristic turnovers, forcing bad passes, leading to Marist getting out in transition. Redshirt sophomore center Jason Schofield went to work in the paint, scoring six straight, including a layup off a fantastic pass from sophomore guard Justin Menard.
On the ensuing possession, Marist extended its lead to fifteen after junior guard Jaden Collins-Roberts threw a bullet cross-court pass, and Blackwell finished with an impressive reverse layup.
Stony Brook finally slowed down the Red Foxes’ offense as they forced a three-minute scoring drought and drew fouls on Marist, getting to the charity stripe. The Seawolves cut the lead down to 35-23 going into halftime.
The Seawolves came out of the locker room with a sense of urgency, shrinking the Marist lead to seven with a layup from Pratt and a top-of-the-key three by sophomore forward Quin Gorman. Marist head coach John Dunne saw enough and called a timeout just one minute into the second half.
Lewis answered the call for Marist, knocking down three straight shots to bring the lead back up to 42-31.
The Red Foxes kept on distributing the ball, extending their lead up to 22 as Daughtry found Blackwell on a backdoor feed, and Menard kicked out the ball, finding senior Trace Salton for a corner three.
Stony Brook cut the lead down to 15 with a 7-0 run. Senior guard Ethan Simon fired a cross pass to freshman guard Jonah Butler for a wide-open three, forcing a Marist timeout.
Out of the timeout, Dunne drew up a play for an easy mid-range shot for Lewis; Stony Brook’s comeback was too little too late as Menard knocked down a dagger three to put the Seawolves away for good.
The Red Foxes finish their non-conference slate at 8-3 and will travel to Connecticut for a matchup against Quinnipiac on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Photo by Jaylen Rizzo
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