Redshirt freshman Gavin Heslop came up with the big play as he broke through UND's protection and blocked Austin Dussold's punt that was scooped up by Kye Morgan and returned seven yards for the go-ahead score.

A failed two-point conversion left the Fighting Hawks down by four and 8:47 to work with on the clock. The UND offense answered with its most sustained drive of the contest, but the 12-play, 53-yard effort stalled at the SBU 24-yard line when Brady Oliveira was stopped short of the first down on a 4^th-and-1 rush.

With only 2:14 to run off the clock and UND with only one timeout remaining, SBU needed just one first down to seal the win and the Seawolves' got that on a second-down carry by Stacey Bedell.

The teams combined for only 398 yards of total offense and both lost two fumbles in a contest that saw each team hold the ball for nearly 30 minutes. The Seawolves held a slight edge with 221 yards of total offense, but mustered only 67 in the second half.

UND was held to only 43 first-half yards, but a 16-yard rushing score by sophomore John Santiago put the visitors ahead 7-0 early in the second quarter. SBU would square the game after converting UND's first turnover into a touchdown that nearly did not happen.

Tight end Cal Daniels was credited with the touchdown after he raced to the corner of the end zone where he fell on the loose ball that was coughed up by Jordan Gowins trying to get in from the 3-yard line on a 3^rd-and-goal for the Seawolves.

Junior captain Connor O'Brien forced the fumble and led UND with 11 total tackles, but the star of the night for UND's defense was fellow captain Cole Reyes. The hard-hitting safety had eight tackles, recovered two fumbles, had a sack and forced a fumble, but his biggest play of the game came early in the third quarter.

After Clive Georges fumbled at the SBU 2-yard line after fighting for extra yardage on UND's opening drive of the half, Reyes darted through the line of scrimmage and tripped up Bedell in the end zone for a safety to put UND up 9-7.

The Schaumburg, Ill., native missed the fourth quarter with an injury, but the Fighting Hawks yielded only one first down in those final 15 minutes. UND would cling to that lead as the teams exchanged four punts before Morgan recovered the last one by Dussold and raced in untouched for his second career blocked-punt recovery for a touchdown.

In the first half, Stony Brook took the opening possession down to the UND 20-yard line, but Przemyslaw Popek missed on a 37-yard field goal attempt.

The Seawolves were controlling field position until a botched hand off on a 3^rd-and-1 play resulted in Reyes' first fumble recovery late in the first quarter. UND took over near midfield, but the SBU defense held the visitors to their third-consecutive, three-and-out to start the game.

After forcing its own three-and-out, the UND offense would finally get going. Junior quarterback Keaton Studsrud completed a 3^rd-and-five to start the second quarter and Santiago would make a few Seawolves miss before getting to pay dirt from 16 yards out on the next play. The sophomore All-American got loose after being held to only three yards on five carries in the first quarter. He finished with 16 carries for 51 yards.

Reyes would come up with another big play when he forced a fumble, was credited with a sack and recovered the loose ball on the all same play to set his team up at the SBU 28-yard line. UND gave the ball right back after Studsrud was sacked and lost a fumble that set up SBU's first scoring drive of the game.

O'Brien knocked the ball loose as Gowins was going to the ground, but Daniels was the first one to the loose ball and SBU would square things at 7-7 with the extra point.