GAME NOTES: The Stony Brook Seawolves and Mercer Bears get together in the first round of the 2015 College Basketball Invitational from Hawkins Arena on Wednesday night.

The winner advances to the quarterfinals to face either Eastern Michigan or ULM next Monday.

Stony Brook is 23-11 after falling to Albany in the championship game of the America East Tournament last Saturday. The Seawolves are making their fourth straight appearance in the postseason, and second in the CBI after losing at Siena in a 66-55 final last year in Albany.

Mercer comes in at 18-15 on the season, and it lost to Furman in the semifinal round of the Southern Conference Tournament. The Bears have been awarded bids to all four postseason tournaments, winning the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2012, advancing to the NIT round of 32 in 2013, and advancing to the NCAA Round of 32 last year.

This bout marks the first meeting between these two schools in men's basketball.

Stony Brook's Jameel Warney was named the AEC Player of the Year, as well as its Defensive Player of the Year, as the junior forward averages 16.5 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. Warney, who has a national-best 21 double-doubles this season, is a 54.1 percent shooter from the field, but he has had his issues at the free-throw line, converting just 57.6 percent of the time. Carson Puriefoy is the only other double-digit scorer on the roster, as he nets 14.3 ppg to go with his team-high 114 assists. Overall, Stony Brook is putting up 65.3 ppg while permitting 59.7 ppg, and it was clearly the top rebounding team in the AEC this season with a margin of plus-8.5.

Mercer relies on a pair of double-digit scorers as well, with Ike Nwamu and Darius Moten netting 14.7 and 11.4 ppg, respectively. The duo combine for just 7.7 rpg, with T.J. Hallice spearheading the effort on the glass with 6.5 rpg. The Bears are an average shooting team, hitting 44.1 percent of their field goal attempts, which includes a 34.5 percent showing from 3-point range, and they do a decent job of limiting open looks at the basket by the opposition, which connects on only 41.5 percent of its total shots. As a result. Mercer generates 66.5 ppg while yielding 62.3 ppg, and the team owns favorable margins in both rebounding (+1.4) and turnovers (+1.6) as well.

Warney will once again be the best player on the court, but he alone isn't likely to get Stony Brook over the hump. Mercer will do what it can to combat him, but in the end expect Puriefoy and his teammates to lend just enough support to get the Seawolves into the next round.