The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

JARON Cornish had a career-high scoring night to propel the Stony Brook Sea Wolves to their best start of their D-I era while Nathan Bain has thrived in a new role with the Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks.

Cornish matched a career high with 22 points in the Sea Wolves’ 79-73 win over the Norfolk State Spartans.

The senior guard was an efficient 8-11 shooting from the field, including 3-5 from three-point range. He also added five rebounds and four assists in a team high 38 minutes on the floor.

Stony Brook improved to 6-1 with its fifth road win of the season.

“I’m really happy about the performance that Jaron put together. He was able to lead us down the stretch and to the win,” said Sea Wolves head coach Jeff Boals.

“Really proud of the way the guys stepped up and do what they did in order to pull out this victory. We were able to take care of the ball in the second half and that was definitely key to us winning. We had to play some young guys and younger lineups and they really showed a lot.” Stony Brook led 39-32 at the half and Cornish scored 14 of his 22 in the second half. he Spartans cut the lead to single digits, getting it all the way to three with 3:58 to go, but Stony Brook withstood the run, outscoring them 9-6 down the stretch to take home the victory.

Cornish’s only other 22-point game came against Long Island rivals Hofstra on December 12, 2017.

He now has two games in double figures this season, with 14 on his career. In his second season with the program, he is averaging nine points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.

In his third full season of availability, Bain is off to an impressive start with the Lumberjacks.

After playing sparingly in previous seasons, Bain has started three of five games thus far, averaging 8.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game

He set a new career high in the season opener with 10 points against Texas Wesleyan and followed with another 10 point effort against Southwestern Assemblies. In a career high 33 minutes, he posted a near double double with seven points and eight rebounds against Miami (FL) and posted nine points and eight rebounds against Marist.

SFA is one of eight teams that comprise the field for the 2018 Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic and the ‘Jacks will play two games in Belfast, Northern Ireland. First up is tomorrow’s matchup with undefeated with San Francisco

As a true freshman, Bain saw time in 24 of SFA’s 34 contests.He posted averages of 2.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 7.5 minutes per game. As a sophomore, he suffered a back injury that significantly shortened his 2016-17 season. He took part in only three games for SFA before getting sidelined and recicving a medical redshirt. Last season, he ppeared in 24 of the ‘Jacks’ 35 games and averaged 2.0 points, 0.8 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.3 blocked shots in 6.4 minutes per game.