STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Behind a championship game record-tying 43 points from Jameel Warney, Stony Brook University captured its first America East men’s basketball title on Saturday. The top-seeded Seawolves roared back from 15 points down in the second half to beat third-seeded Vermont, 80-74, in front of a sold out crowd on their home court.
Stony Brook (26-6) outscored Vermont by 15 points in the second half to win its first title game in five appearances. The Seawolves received the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship and will dance for the first time in program history.
Warney was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after equaling Taylor Coppenrath’s 43-point performance from the 2004 title game. The three-time conference Player of the Year finished with 43 points on 18-of-22 shooting, 10 rebounds and four blocks. He averaged 30.3 points and 15.3 rebounds for the championship.
Vermont (21-13), which won at least 20 games for the eighth-straight season, grew its lead to 15 early in the second half. Darren Payen’s 18 footer from the top of the key gave the Catamounts a 48-33 advantage, its best of the game, with 15:17 left.
From there, Stony Brook outscored Vermont by 21 the rest of the way and began to chip away at its deficit. The Seawolves scored six-straight points, capped by a Warney bucket to cut the lead to nine with just under 14 minutes left.
Trae-Bell Haynes, who led Vermont with 18 points and earned All-Championship honors, hit consecutive threes to grow his team's lead back to 14. But, Carson Puriefoy, who had 17 of his 23 points after halftime and earned All-Championship recognition, started a 15-2 Stony Brook spurt with a three-pointer from the top of the key and the Seawolves were within one with 7:52 left.
Warney, who had 25 of his points in the second half, gave Stony Brook its first lead since early in the first half with a free throw at the 5:59 mark that put his team up 62-61. Vermont, which was seeking its sixth America East title, did not go away quietly, scoring seven of the game’s next nine points to regain a four-point cushion with 4:22 left.
Stony Brook’s first-team All-Conference tandem of Warney and Puriefoy would not be denied however, driving a 7-0 run as Stony Brook never lost the lead again. The duo scored 15 of the Seawolves’ last 16 points to seal the outcome and combined for 66 of their 80 points overall.
Warney, Puriefoy and Bell-Haynes were joined as All-Championship selections by Vermont’s Ethan O’Day and New Hampshire’s Tanner Leissner. Stony Brook’s Lucas Woodhouse received the conference’s Elite 18 Award given to the student-athlete playing in the championship game with the highest cumulative GPA. Woodhouse, a junior, has a 3.23 GPA in multidisciplinary studies.
The championship game drew a sellout crowd of 4,109 fans to Island Federal Credit Union Arena bringing the total attendance for the 2016 #AEPlayoffs to 21,281. It’s the second-straight year the #AEPlayoffs drew over 20,000 fans.
The title tilt started off slowly with Vermont jumping out to a 6-3 on Kurt Steidl’s layup just under four minutes in. The Seawolves then went on a 12-4 run with Warney scoring nine of the 12 points in that span. His free throw with 9:14 left in the period gave Stony Brook, a 15-10, lead, its largest of the game.
Vermont controlled the remainder of the frame, outscoring Stony Brook 24-12 over the final 10 minutes of the period. Payen’s free throws with 5:29 left gave Vermont a 24-18 lead and capped a 12-3 spurt. The Catamounts hit seven of their final 10 shots of the frame, including Ernie Duncan’s three-pointer from the corner 57 seconds left. After a Stony Brook turnover, Dre Wills hit a layup as the first half ended to give Vermont a 36-27 halftime lead.
The Catamounts shot 54 percent in the first half and the Seawolves countered with a 54 percent clip in the second. Overall, Vermont shot 50 percent to Stony Brook’s 47.5 percent. The game featured seven ties and as many lead changes.
Stony Brook, the 12th different program to win the America East title, will learn its NCAA seed and opponent during the NCAA selection show on Sunday at 5:30 on CBS.