AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.—Air Force’s 10th win of the season will have to wait until 2009.
Bryan Dougher had 22 points and Muhammad El-Amin added 20 as Stony Brook University surprised Air Force 67-64 in front of 3,195 at Clune Arena on Wednesday afternoon.
Matt Holland’s possible game-tying 3-point attempt at the buzzer hit the back of the rim as the Falcons fell to 9-4 and the Seawolves improved to 7-5.
“Any time you give a team 23 points on offensive rebounds, you’re not going to win the game,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. “They just outscrapped us, and that’s their forte. They stuck to their game plan, defended us well, were very well-coached and are a very hard-playing team. We got a good shot (at the end) that we wanted from a good 3-point shooter, but it just didn’t go in.”
The Falcons could not overcome the Seawolves’ offensive rebounding and second-half 3-point shooting in a game that was a seesaw battle from start to finish.
Air Force used a 9-0 run early in the second half to take a 34-29 advantage, and led 44-42 with 8:22 remaining, but it would be the Falcons’ last lead of the game.
Stony Brook pushed its lead to eight points, 60-52, with 1:05 left, but the Falcons used a 10-3 run to cut the lead to 63-62 with 19 seconds left.
Dougher hit two clutch free throws with eight seconds remaining to give Stony Brook its 67-64 lead.
“This is a big win on the road,” Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell said. “We did what we had to do to hang around when we didn’t play very well. In the second half, we showed we can shoot the ball really well. We really do play good defense, and our guys bought into that concept.”
The Seawolves had 23 second-chance points for the game, thanks to a 35-23 rebounding advantage. They made just 2-of-15 from 3-point range in the first half but connected on 5-of-9 from beyond the arc in the second half to help spur the upset.
Free-throw shooting was another downfall for Air Force, as the Falcons connected on just 20-of-32 from the line.
Anwar Johnson’s career-high 25 points were the most by an Air Force player this season.
“In the first half, we didn’t box out as well as we could have, and when you do that, you’re asking to get beat,” said Johnson, who scored 13 of his 25 points from the free-throw line. “They put pressure on the ball so well, and their defense was outstanding. We have to put this loss behind us, and the sun will shine another day.”
Johnson, Air Force’s leading scorer, had 17 free-throw attempts, the most for a Falcon since Lamoni Yazzie made 15-of-17 from the line on Dec. 22, 2001, against Liberty. Evan Washington added 13 points for Air Force, while teammate Grant Parker had 12.
“They came to win, and we played not to lose,” Parker said. “We prepared hard for these guys and knew they were going to be good. They were physical, crashed the boards and could shoot. If we hit our free throws, we win that game by 10. We beat ourselves.”
The Falcons begin conference play Jan. 3 at home against San Diego State.
