Leissner's 25 Points, Eight Rebounds Undone by Stony Brook, 59-56

Thursday, January 5

Durham, N.H.

7 PM

University of New Hampshire

9-6, 0-1AE

Stony Brook University

6-8, 1-0AE

Stony Brook

New Hampshire

Photo by: Joey Walker

Leissner's 25 Points, Eight Rebounds Undone by Stony Brook, 59-56

1/5/2017 10:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Presser

DURHAM, N.H. – Junior Tanner Leissner (Converse, Texas) finished with 25 points and eight rebounds as the University of New Hampshire men's basketball team fell 59-56 to defending America East champion Stony Brook University, Thursday night in Lundholm Gym.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Wildcats hit the road to take on Albany on Wednesday, Jan. 11 (7 PM) before returning home on Jan. 14 (1 PM) to host Binghamton University. Both contests will be on ESPN3. Tickets are available HERE.

HIGHLIGHTS

Leissner drilled 14 free throws in the contest.
UNH clawed back from a 5-point deficit with 5:31 to go to tie it at 52 points with 2:29 to play.
Senior Jaleen Smith (Freeport, Texas) tallied 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a block.
Classmate Daniel Dion (Cedar Park, Texas) scored nine points on 3-pointers.
New Hampshire dominated in fast-break points (14-0).
Both teams struggled shooting in the first half with no team shooting better than 25 percent.
The Wildcats held SBU to 0-10 shooting on threes in the first half.

UPDATED TEAM RECORDS
New Hampshire (9-6, 0-1 AE)
Stony Brook (6-8, 1-0 AE)

HOW IT HAPPENED
After a sluggish first half of shooting, the Seawolves drilled a 3-pointer from Roland Nyama in the opening minute to cut the lead to four. New Hampshire would remain in the lead until the 16-minute mark when Tyrell Sturdivant for Stony Brook sunk a jumper to knot it up at 30 apiece. The Wildcats fought off the Seawolves for the next four minutes with a three by Dion, a finish in the paint by Smith and a post move score by Leissner to lead by two, 37-25, with 13:17 to go. Nyama drilled another three to reclaim a Stony Brook lead a minute later.

Stony Brook started to score in the final half of the second period. With 9:46 to play, Stony Brook connected on 3 of 4 shots (two threes) to stretch their lead to four before a junior Iba Camara (Dakar, Senegal) finish in the paint cut it to two. A Sturdivant jumper and a free throw pushed the Seawolves' lead to five. An 8-3 run by UNH, six from Leissner, tied it up at 52 with 2:29 to go. Stony Brook scored in two straight possessions to bookend two free throws from junior Jordan Reed (Lucas, Texas) to take a 3-point lead with 1:33 to play. Leissner was fouled hard and went to the line with 1:18 left in the game, hitting both to cut it to one. With 43 seconds to go in the contest, Leissner made a post move inside which was called a travel and the Seawolves victory.

-POSTGAME NOTES-
UNH STARTERS (SEASON/CAREER STARTS)
Sr. G Jaleen Smith (15/87)
Sr. G Daniel Dion (15/48)
Jr. G Jordan Reed (13/13)
Jr. F Tanner Leissner (15/69)
Jr. F Iba Camara (10/48)

GROUP'S RECORD: 5-5

SERIES INFO
Stony Brook has stretched its slight lead in the all-time series to 17-15 including four straight wins.

ATTENDANCE: 624

TEAM NOTES
New Hampshire led in free throws made (19-8).
Stony Brook led in bench points (15-3) and scoring jumped from 19 points in the first to 40 points in the second.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Tanner Leissner: 25 points / 8 rebounds / 14-17 FTs
Jaleen Smith: 12 points / 7 rebounds / 3 assists / 1 block / 5 of 11 shooting
Daniel Dion: 9 points / 4 rebounds 3 of 11 on threes
Iba Camara: 5 points / 6 rebounds / 2 of 5 shooting

Tyrell Sturdivant: 20 points / 7 rebounds / 9 of 13 shooting
Roland Nyama: 14 points / 3 of 6 on threes
Kameron Mitchell: 5 points/ 5 rebounds / 5 assists