Stony Brook’s NCAA Tournament hopes may have come to a heartbreaking end on Saturday, but the Seawolves will still get the opportunity to participate in a postseason tournament this week.
For the second straight year the SBU men’s basketball team has accepted an invitation to play in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). The Seawolves will face off against the Mercer Bears this Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Macon, Georgia.
This is the fourth-straight season Stony Brook will play in a postseason tournament. The team earned berths in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in both 2012 and 2013, and took part in the CBI for the first time last season.
The Seawolves suffered an early exit in last year’s CBI, when they lost in the opening round to Siena.
Mercer will also be making its fourth-straight appearance in a postseason tournament. The Bears were able to upset No. 3 Duke in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
This season, Mercer had a record of 18-15 (12-6 in Southern Conference play). The team lost in the Southern Conference semifinals to Furman, 52-46.
The Bears are led by senior Darious Moten and junior Ike Nwamu, who both earned spots this season on the All-Southern Conference team. Moten, however, will not play against the Seawolves after getting hurt in the team’s victory in its conference quarterfinals matchup against VMI.
If Stony Brook is able to take down Mercer, the Seawolves will advance to play the winner of Eastern Michigan-Louisiana Monroe matchup on March 23.
A pair of Seawolves’ rivals will also be facing off in the first round of the CBI. On Wednesday night, Hofstra will play host to Vermont.
The Seawolves lost to the Pride, 66-65, back on Nov. 21. SBU also lost to conference foe Vermont twice during the regular season before defeating the Catamounts in the semi-finals of the America East tournament.
Joe Galotti
Joe Galotti is a journalism student at Stony Brook University in his senior year. He started writing for The Statesman back in the Fall of 2012, and is now beginning his first year as the paper's Sports Editor. After graduation he hopes to one day be a beat writer in charge of covering a professional sports team.
