THE BASICS:

RESULT: Stony Brook 77, Hartford 43
LOCATION: Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion
ATTENDANCE: 1,352
RECORDS: Stony Brook (14-4, 5-0 America East); Hartford (6-13, 1-3)
 
THE LEAD:
First-place Stony Brook delivered a strong defensive performance to down the Hartford men's basketball team on Monday afternoon. Evan Cooper led the Hawks with 10 points, while Pancake Thomas delivered eight points and eight rebounds in a losing effort.
 
Jameel Warney posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Seawolves, while Rayshaun McGrew (16), Lucas Woodhouse (13) and Carson Puriefoy (11) also finished in double figures.

FIRST HALF:
Both teams came out of the locker room cold, with the game remaining scoreless until the 17:44 mark. Stony Brook then got a three-ball from Bryan Sekunda to start the scoring, and ran out to a 15-0 lead out of the gate.
 
Justin Graham delivered a nice driving layup to stop the rally, and a Cooper triple cut the score to 17-7 at the 8:59 mark. The Seawolves pushed the lead back to 23-10, but a 4-0 run on a Cooper jumper and two Taylor Dyson free throws cut the lead to single digits at 23-14. But Stony Brook was able to close the half on a 9-3 run to enter the locker room ahead 32-17.

SECOND HALF:
After the break, Stony Brook started another solid rally, posting nine in a row before Cooper's three-ball made it 41-20. The Seawolves were able to slowly add to their lead, pushing it to 30 with a strong defensive performance.
 
The Hawks cut into the deficit with a full-court press leading to an impressive fast-break layup for Jack Hobbs that made it 62-37, but that was as close as the Hawks would get the rest of the way.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
• Cooper finished in double figures for the first time since the Widener contest. Over the four games leading into Monday's contest, he had logged just two points.

• TreVaughn Wilkerson made his first career start in the game, and registered a block in a career-high 15 minutes.
 
• Seven of Warney's 11 rebounds came on the offensive end. He leads the conference with 10.6 rebounds per contest.
 
• Hartford had more turnovers than its opponent for the first time in conference play.
 
UP NEXT:
Hartford hits the road for a Thursday evening matchup at UMBC on Jan. 21. The Hawks and Retrievers will do battle for the first time this season at RAC Arena at 7 p.m. The game will be carried live on the Talk of Connecticut 1360 AM with Jeff Dooley and Randy LaVigne on the call, and the contest will be televised on AmericaEast.TV.