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Stony Brook rewards Steve Pikiell with contract extension through 2019

Steve Pikiell

Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell speaks with an official during the second half of his team’s 73-62 loss to Connecticut in an NCAA college basketball game in Storrs, Conn., Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Fred Beckham)

AP

In ten seasons as the head coach at Stony Brook, Steve Pikiell has amassed a record of 141 wins and 132 losses. That may not look all that impressive at first glance, but a deeper look into those numbers reveal just how good of a job Pikiell has done at the America East school.

Stony Brook’s finished above .500 in five of the last six seasons, winning at least 22 games in four of those campaigns. Also included in this current run of success are three regular season America East titles, with the Seawolves going 62-18 in conference play over the last five seasons. And with that being the case, interim athletic director Donna Woodruff announced Wednesday that Pikiell’s been rewarded with a contract extension through the 2018-19 season.

“Steve has always been an exemplary leader of our Stony Brook men’s basketball program, and I am thrilled to know that he will be leading our student-athletes to future success as we move forward,” Woodruff said in the release. “With the integrity and class that he demonstrates day in and day out, he is truly one of the great ambassadors for University and our Department of Athletics.”

Stony Brook won 23 games last season and reached the final of the America East tournament, where they fell to NCAA tournament participant Albany. The Seawolves will have to account for the loss of two double-digit scorers in guards David Coley and Anthony Jackson, but they’ll return rising juniors Carson Puriefoy and Jameel Warney in 2014-15. And in Warney, Pikiell will have a player who will likely be the preseason choice to win America East Player of the Year.

Warney, who was 2012-13 America East Rookie of the Year, averaged 14.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game as a sophomore with ten double-doubles. One of those ten double-double performances came in a 104-102 win at Detroit, with Warney tallying 32 points and 21 rebounds.

With the experienced tandem of Warney and Puriefoy leading the way for Pikiell, Stony Brook will once again contend in America East.

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