Busting Brackets
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America East Basketball: Vermont and Stony Brook battling for league supremacy

By Daniel Benjamin

MILWAUKEE, WI - MARCH 16: Vermont
MILWAUKEE, WI - MARCH 16: Vermont /
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EAST LANSING, MI – NOVEMBER 19: Jeff Boals of the Stony Brook Seawolves looks on during the game against the Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center on November 19, 2017 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI – NOVEMBER 19: Jeff Boals of the Stony Brook Seawolves looks on during the game against the Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center on November 19, 2017 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

Stony Brook Seahawks

The Seawolves have won five of their last six and 12 of 15 overall. The Wolves lost both of their earlier matchups to the Catamounts and Retrievers. Stony Brook’s other conference was to Albany (74-70).

Stony Brook, led by coach Jeff Boals, is a pretty young team with just one senior. The Seahawks use an eight-man rotation. Junior guard Akwasi Yeboah leads the team in both scoring and rebounding. Sophomore guard Elijah Olaniyi is second on the squad on the team in both scoring and rebounds. Meanwhile, freshman guard Miles Lattimore is also averaging double figures.

The Seawolves struggle mightily on the offensive end as they don’t shoot the ball well and turn it over quite a bit. The Wolves, however, do a good job at getting to the free throw line and rebounding the ball on that end.

Stony Brook, like Vermont, does get after it on the defensive end. The Seawolves are 17th nationally in defensive rankings as they are holding their opponents to 61.7 points a game during conference play (third) and 65.9 points overall (49th). They are also limiting opponents to 38.8% shooting from the field (ninth) and 30.8% (32nd) from long distance. Additionally, the Wolves are one of the best in the nation at cleaning the glass and have done a decent job forcing turnovers during America East play.

Stony Brook will need to win the America East Tournament title to get into the NCAA Tournament. The Seawolves have reached the “Big Dance” once in program history, and that was in 2016.

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