After six years of missing out on a trip to the NCAA tournament, the Stony Brook Seawolves men’s basketball team will return as the 13th seed to take on the 4th-seeded University of Kentucky in Des Moines, Iowa on March 17 at 9:30 p.m.
Stony Brook’s starting lineup will include Port Washington’s Ahmad Walker, a junior guard who earned All-Defensive Team honors in his conference for the Seawolves, which finished with a 23-6 record this year including a 14-2 record in their conference and a 15-1 home record. Walker finished second on the team in rebounds with an average of 7 a game and total steals with 30.
Walker’s current statistics for the 2015-16 campaign includes starts in all 32 games, where he played over 29 minutes per game. He would average 10.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Walker also earned a total of 135 assists and 33 steals.
As a high school player, Walker spent his freshmen year as a member of Paul Schreiber High School’s varsity team in Port Washington. Schreiber head coach Sean Dooley touted Walker as a dynamic player who played a big role in their success that year.
“He was the 6th man on a team that made it to the county semifinals in which we lost a very close game to Baldwin” said Dooley. “He was one of our better shooters and was also a strong ball handler and had a great feel for the game.”
One year later, he transferred to St. Dominic’s in Oyster Bay as a sophomore, where he earned an All-Nassau County selection honor. He also played AAU basketball for the Long Island Lightning.
He then played three seasons of varsity basketball at the Berkshire School in Sheffield, Mass., where he set school’s single-game record with 49 points and became the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,745 points.
The Seawolves, who were the first seed in the America East playoffs, won all three games they played by decisive margins.
In the championship game against Vermont, Walker registered six points, four rebounds and four assists. With 3:14 left to go in the game, Walker hit a free throw to put the Seawolves up for good.
