HAMPTON — Conference play doesn’t wait for teams to feel ready. It arrives as a reset button — wiping away November experiments, December swings and the comfort of “still figuring it out.”

For Hampton, that reset came Monday night in the form of a 62–59 comeback win at home over Stony Brook to open conference play and extend its eight-game home winning streak.

“We established a little bit of our identity and who we want to be and who we’re becoming: one of the tougher teams in our league,” HU coach Ivan Thomas said. “I’m extremely proud of these guys and how they stuck with it and kept fighting and how we can come up with a hard fought victory at home.”

Hampton Pirates head coach Ivan Thomas high fives his team before the game against the Stony Brook Seawolves at the Hampton University Convocation Center in Hampton, Virginia, on Dec. 29, 2025. (Peter Casey/The Virginian-Pilot)

The Pirates (7-7, 1-0 CAA) erased a 10-point second-half deficit and closed the game at the free-throw line to seal the win. Jalyke Gaines-Wyatt iced the game with three clutch free throws in the final minute after Hampton regained control.

Trailing 55-45 with eight minutes left following a 19-4 Stony Brook run fueled by four 3-pointers, Hampton responded with a 14-2 surge, as Xzavier Long and Christian Watson combined for 11 points in that stretch. After Stony Brook’s Ethan Simmon tied the game with a layup, Gaines-Wyatt delivered at the line to finish the comeback.

Thomas leaned on Williams to play defense on Erik Pratt, the CAA’s fifth-leading scorer. Pratt was held to 0-of-3 shooting and four turnovers in the final 11 minutes of the game.

“It was just (getting) stops,” Williams said of the team’s mindset during the comeback. “We know we can shoot the ball. It wasn’t our night. … Really just locking down and locking into what we have been going over for five days.”

The first half set the tone for a tightly contested game. Stony Brook (8-6, 0-1 CAA) jumped out early on a 10-0 run to take a 17-10 lead, only for Hampton to respond with a 10-2 spurt that trimmed the deficit to 20-19. The half ended with the Seawolves ahead 34-33.

Long led the Pirates with a double-double of 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, while Gaines-Wyatt (12), Daniel Johnson (11) and Watson (11) all reached double digits. Hampton played without leading scorer Michael Eley, who sat out due to illness.

The win offered Hampton a chance to apply lessons from a 6-7 nonconference slate that included single-digit losses to Norfolk State, Howard, Holy Cross, Grambling State and Milwaukee. Thomas said the team’s approach to conference play won’t change, emphasizing that the intensity they’ve practiced with all season is what they’ll carry into the CAA.

“I don’t think anything changes. We’ve been trying to play with this level of intensity all year long,” Thomas said. “We still haven’t played our best basketball. But hopefully we can take some of those lessons into a very tough CAA schedule and continue to grow.

“We’re gonna rest our head on being tough and physical, willing our way to the paint, getting to the free-throw line and getting stops,” he said. “When our shots fall, we’re gonna be a tough team … mix the physicality with shot-making ability, and we’re gonna be dangerous.”

Hampton returns to the Convocation Center Wednesday to host Towson (8-6, 0-1 CAA) on New Year’s Eve as conference play continues.

https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/12/29/hampton-men-open-caa-play-with-comeback-win-over-stony-brook/