The Stony Brook Seawolves and UAlbany Great Danes battle for a rebound. Junior forward Elijah Olaniyi (3) became the 10 D-I player in Stony Brook history to earn 1000 career points in the win over UAlbany on Jan. 18. PHOTO CREDIT: CHRISTINE HEEREN- AXCESS SPORTS
The battles between Stony Brook and UAlbany have defined what the term “rivalry” means. You can bet every game will feature both teams laying in every shot it can to humiliate its opponent and claim bragging rights in America East play. On Saturday, Jan. 19, the pendulum swung in Stony Brook’s direction as both basketball programs took its respective contests.
Stony Brook 70 (13-7; 4-1), UAlbany 62 (10-9; 3-1)
Elijah Olaniyi earned the reputation of being a fearless rebounder and scorer in Newark East Side High School. Olaniyi was a leader from the moment he stepped foot on the court and played an influential role in the Red Raiders’ 2015 New Jersey State Championship win.
“The one thing that separated him was that he was a tremendously hard worker,” Red Raiders associate head coach Anthony Tavares told me in a 2018 interview. “He was not afraid of doing the things needed to get on the court as a sophomore, which was getting rebounds and scoring. As the years went along, he started to improve his skill set, he started to improve his jump shot and his ball handling, which allowed him to get [accepted to] Stony Brook University.”
The guard earned many accolades in high school, but scoring 1000 points was not one of them– he only earned 928. It may have taken another three years and a huge competitive increase, but Olaniyi finally clinched quadruple-digits with a jump shot after seven minutes of Saturday’s contest.
“The 1,000 meant a lot, because I didn’t score 1,000 in high school,” Olaniyi said in a postgame press conference. “It shows the hard work is paying off to be able to score 1,000 in college.”
Olaniyi was a spot-up shooter by knocking down nine of his 13 field goal attempts, leading Stony Brook with 20 points. The junior earned his fourth consecutive double-double by also grabbing 11 defensive rebounds, becoming the first Seawolf to accomplish this feat since former Dallas Maverick forward Jameel Warney. The guard is playing at a level even higher than his 2017 America East Rookie of the Year-winning season, something head coach Geno Ford attributed to this team’s success.
“The thing with Elijah is he’s so much improved [from] over a year ago,” Ford said. “He would have gotten 1,000 anyway at some point in his career because he was on pace going into the season. But I just think his level of practice in the offseason and dedicating himself to becoming a better shooter and dribbler really has paid off.
UAlbany led 11-4 four minutes into the contest, but Stony Brook chipped away at the lead before redshirt-juniors forward Andrew Garcia and guard Makale Foreman knocked down shots that gave Stony Brook the 25-20 advantage and the lead for good. Garcia tied Olaniyi with 20 points in the contest and led the contest with three steals, while Foreman finished with 11 points.
“[W]e have the fortune of [Olaniyi] playing with two other guys who are going to get to 1000. Garcia is going to get to 1,000. Foreman is going to get to 1,000. . . We’ve got firepower in various spots.”
Stony Brook will remain in Island Federal Arena to host the Binghamton Bearcats on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and WUSB 90.1.
Stony Brook 73 (18-1; 6-0), UAlbany 53 (6-12; 2-3)
Women’s Basketball began the matchup scoring its first eight points and forcing a UAlbany timeout, two minutes in. Coming out of the timeout, graduate forward Cheyenne Clark grabbed the ball through the Great Danes defense and knocked down the layup inside the paint. The message was sent with Stony Brook up ten points just three minutes in– there was no slowing down the Seawolves offense.
Stony Brook outscored UAlbany in every quarter– the third time this season and first time since topping LIU on Nov. 27 it accomplished this feat. The Seawolves marched over the Great Danes by going on a 23-4 run in through the third and fourth quarters. Five different Seawolves earned double-digits in the scoring department as well, led by graduate guard Kaela Hilaire’s 16 points.
Clark commanded the Seawolves off the glass by grabbing 14 boards and contributing to the team’s 27 second chance points. She recorded her third double-double this season by talling 12 points, with eight coming from the charity stripe.
“We were just focused on playing 40 minutes of Stony Brook basketball,” Clark said. “Just focusing on the little things on the defensive end. Albany is always a tough opponent so it was huge for us to get this win on the road.”
The Seawolves have reached the 18-1 mark for the first time in Division-I play, and only the second time in program history after the 1986-87 season. Stony Brook matches No.13-ranked Gonzaga with 18-1 records and received one vote in the most recent USA Today NCAA Top 25 Rankings. The team also gained sole control of first place in the conference with a 6-0 record.
Stony Brook’s record-setting winning streak will be put to the test this week against two America East titans. First, the Seawolves will travel to Vestel, N.Y. to battle the 13-5-overall Binghamton Bearcats led by senior guard Kai Moon, the conference’s leading scorer. Should Stony Brook and UMass Lowell win its Wednesday contests, then the Jan. 29 contest between each other will spell the end for one of the team’s unbeaten America East Record.
