This would have been right at home in playgrounds from Farmingdale to Farmingville.
For 40 minutes, at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington on Monday night, Stony Brook and Hofstra were engaged in a Long Island street fight. The Seawolves and Pride traded body blows, heavy and hard. Both sides giving as good as they got.
And in the end, it was Stony Brook, in its second year as a CAA member school, landing one more punch.
The seventh-seeded Seawolves outlasted third-seed Hofstra, 63-59, in the CAA men’s basketball semifinals. As a result, Stony Brook will meet top-seeded Charleston in Tuesday’s championship game. The Cougars topped fifth-seed Towson, 61-56, in the day’s first semifinal game.
Stony Brook went on a 10-0 run for a 61-51 lead with 37 seconds left, then survived a personal eight-point surge by Hofstra’s Tyler Thomas to trim it to 62-59 with 6 seconds left. SBU hit only 2 of 5 free throws in the final 37 seconds, but Keenan Fitzmorris hit the clincher for a four-point lead with 5 seconds left.
Tyler Stephenson-Moore led Stony Brook (20-14) with 23 points. Chris Maidoh added 13. Aaron Clarke chipped in with 12.
Thomas led Hofstra (20-13) with 32 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Jaquan Carlos had 13 points and six assists.
“Hats off to Stony Brook,” Hofstra coach Speedy Claxton said. “They earned this one. They made big shots after big shots when they needed to. So congrats to them. Good luck to them.”
At halftime, Stony Brook led 32-30. Stephenson-Moore scored 14 points and shot 4-for-9 from the field, including 3-for-6 from beyond the arc, to spark the Seawolves.
Darlinstone Dubar’s three from beyond the arc gave Hofstra its first lead since midway through the first half, 44-41. Clarke came right back and knocked down a three of his own to tie the game.
Thomas converted a layup to put Hofstra ahead 46-44 with 10:54 remaining.
Neither team scored for the next four minutes until Dean Noll knocked down two free throws to knot the…
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