Photos courtesy of Darren Boyd-Phillips: www.darrenpb.com - all rights reserved

In the only MM action of the summer, MM All-Stars defeated the Stony Brook University Seawolves 79-75 in the 'Battle Of The Atlantic' in front of a capacity crowd of 500 at the Kingston College Arena on Wednesday evening behind a strong all-around performance from the MM Men.  

The visiting Seawolves compete in the America East conference in NCAA Division 1 and always promised to be a tough match up for the MM team, so coaches Junior Williams and Sterling Muschett made sure they had a healthy roster of NCAA and professionally experienced players themselves in putting together the UK representatives.  Olu Babalola (Clemson University),  Carl Josey (VMI), Paul Guede (Portland State), Adam Thoseby (Utah State), Julius Joseph (GCSU) - all have NCAA pedigree, while Mike Martin (England International), Perry Lawson (England International) and Marcus Knight (BBL) are all seasoned pro's - so the game was sure to be competitive. Add big men Babs Somoye (6'8/285lb) and Ibrahim Gariba (6'9/215lb), plus arguably the best U18 guard still playing in England last season ('Easy Ed' Lucas) - and the MM men in black were ready to roll.  And roll they did...

In a first half that featured a number of lead changes, it was Olu Babalola who proved to be the biggest match up problem for the Seawolves.  At 6'6 and 260lb, with alarmingly quick feet for a man his size, Babalola proved unstoppable against Stony Brook's man to man defense.  Scoring a number of step back 3 pointers, aggressive drives to the basket and inevitable free-throws, 'Big O' bullied his way to 14 first half points.  However despite his strong play and support from Josey, Martin, Guede and Joseph - Stony Brook were able to level the scores and go into the half tied at 38 behind the strong inside play of Dallis Joyner (6'7/270lb) and  Danny Carter (6'9/225lb), who played well in his very own 'homecoming'.  Carter is originally from Windsor, England and played his English National League basketball at Reading Rockets, before leaving for Stony Brook on scholarship in 2008.  Carter's presence was warmly received by a crowd made up of many friends and family of the England native.

As the second half got underway, it was the Seawolves who struck first behind their spirited shooting guard Leonard Hayes (6'4/185lb) pushing them ahead by 2.  Babalola responded straight away with a tough drive to the basket, followed by the free-throw to complete an 'old school' 3 point play to put MM up by 1.  A Joseph drive, followed by a Lawson 3 and a Martin free-throw pushed the Madness lead out to 7 with signs that they were warming up.  Head coach Steve Pikiell called a smart time-out to stop the MM flow.

Whatever the America East coach of the year candidate said to his troops seemed to work temporarily as the Seawolves came storming back into the game behind back-to-back buckets from Marcus Rouse (6'0/170lb) and Tommy Brenton (6'5/215lb), pulling their squad to within 3.  However, by this time the whole MM squad had gotten in on the action and MM pushed the lead back up to 7 behind Knight, Josey and a long 3 from David Ajumobi (6'5/224lb).  MM outscored Stony Brook 22-14 in the 3rd.

Resilient 3 point shooting from Bryan Dougher (6'1/185) brought the Seawolves back to within 2 midway into the 4th quarter, but a barrage of buckets from Martin (8 points) and Thoseby (7 points) sent MM on a 15-5 run and put the UK squad up by 12 with only 3 minutes left in the game.  At that point, the MM team looked as though they may break the game wide open with the 5 they had on the floor (Babalola, Martin, Thoseby, Lawson and Guede) as the Seawolves searched for answers in trying to stop the inside-out attack.  However, a couple of substitutions from both coaches saw the Seawolves come storming back into the game yet again behind Dougher and Joyner, pulling the US team to within 3 points going into the last 20 seconds of the game.  With the ball out of bounds and the chance to tie the game on a 3 point play, the Seawolves were unable to initiate their out of bounds play as Guede got a deflection on the pass and shoveled the ball forward to a streaking Mike Martin, who was fouled on the play.  Martin went to the line and made 1 of 2, putting the game out of reach for the spirited Seawolves, giving MM a well-earned win over a well coached Stony Brook team.

For his 24 point effort, Olu Babalola was awarded game MVP however it was a well-balanced performance from the MM All-stars that ultimately got them the win: "I told the guys before the game that this would be a well coached team who would not lie down, no matter how many points we went up, so to play through to the end and not pay attention to the scoreboard and I was right.  Coach Pikiell and his staff did an excellent job in coming back against a team of men with big game experience and I was impressed with the fight in them.  They should be proud of their effort.  Ultimately Olu (24/9boards) and Mike (14 points/7 boards) wore them down in the fourth, but that's nothing to feel bad about, they are both seasoned pro's with European and international experience so hopefully this will help Stony Brook as they prepare for their season over in the states" said MM's Junior Williams.

Top Scorers:  

MM: Babalola 24 (MVP), Martin 14, Thoseby  8

SB: Joyner 14, Carter 11, Dougher 11

*Midnight Madness would like to extend our appreciation to Stony Brook University for the great game and wish them a safe journey home and maximum success in the season ahead.

Check out the official game programme here (click to view properly):