STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Senior Austin Williams' putback with 15 seconds left propelled the Hartford men's basketball team to a come-from-behind 59-57 win in Saturday's series opener at Stony Brook. Williams scored a game-high 15 points to lead the Hawks to their fourth straight victory against the Seawolves.
 
Hartford (10-6), which landed three players in double figures, improves to 7-4 in the America East, while Stony Brook (7-8) drops to 5-4 in conference action.
 
PHOTO GALLERY



HARTFORD 59, STONY BROOK 57
Facing a 55-49 deficit with 2:41 to go, Hartford, which was held to a 1-for-23 start from behind the arc, tied up the game at 55-all on back-to-back triples from sophomore Miroslav Stafl and junior Hunter Marks. After the two sides exchanged two points, including a pair of free throws from Marks, senior Traci Carter came up with a clutch steal with 27 seconds left that set up his eventual go-ahead bucket off a D.J. Mitchell missed three. 
 
Stony Brook had a chance to tie— or win the game — out of a timeout with 12 seconds remaining. After Frankie Policelli came up short on a three, Jaden Sayles was fouled on a jumper with two seconds remaining. He missed the first free throw, and the Hawks held on for the win after the Seawolves were unable to corral the board on an intentional miss on his second attempt. 
 
Hartford held an early lead at 11-5, but Stony Brook countered with a 21-5 run to go up by 10, 26-16, with 3:59 to go in the opening half. The three-point line helped the home team build its largest advantage of the contest, as the Seawolves knocked down five first-half triples during that stretch. The Hawks managed to close the gap down to six at the break on a half-ending 6-2 spurt, and continued to play from behind until a Williams layup midway through the second half made it 43-42.
 
INSIDE THE BOX

• Marks, who scored five of his points in the final 91 seconds, had 13 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season
• Carter, who finished with four steals, rounded out the Hawks' double-figure scorers with 13 points
• Hartford shot 11.5 percent from three (3-for-26) to Stony Brook's 25.8 percent (8-for-31)
• The Seawolves scored 20 second-chance points off 22 offensive rebounds, holding a 51-37 overall advantage on the boards
• Committing just seven miscues, the Hawks scored 15 points off of 17 Stony Brook turnovers
• The Hawks were cold in the first half with a .222 clip from the field (8-for-36), but turned things around in the second half with a .517 clip (15-for-29)

 
NEXT ON TAP
The Hawks and Seawolves return to action for the series finale on Sunday. Tipoff from Island Federal Credit Union Arena is set for 2 p.m. on ESPN3.