STONY BROOK, N.Y. (Interstat) — Roland Dempster rushed for 181 yards and two touchdowns, and the Stony Brook Seawolves controlled the clock and the line of scrimmage to fend off a late surge from the Towson Tigers for a 27-19 victory on Saturday at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.

The Seawolves evened their record at 3-3, while the Tigers fell to 3-4.

Stony Brook’s offense was a model of methodical efficiency, built almost exclusively around the powerful running of Dempster. The junior from Staten Island carried the ball 40 times, wearing down the Towson defense and allowing the Seawolves to dominate time of possession. His first touchdown, a 1-yard plunge in the first quarter, capped a 10-play, 65-yard drive that set the tone for the afternoon.

Quinn Boyd managed the game effectively for Stony Brook, completing 19 of 29 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown. His primary contribution was sustaining drives, with Dez Williams catching the scoring pass from 2 yards out in the third quarter to extend the Seawolves’ lead.

Stony Brook took a 7-0 lead after one quarter and expanded it to 17-0 by halftime, adding a 24-yard field goal from Michael Mannino and Dempster’s second rushing touchdown just before the break. The Seawolves’ defense was stifling in the first half, holding Towson to just 90 total yards and forcing a trio of three-and-out possessions.

The Tigers’ offense, which cycled through three quarterbacks, found no rhythm in the first half with starter Andrew Indorf of Miami struggling. He completed just 3 of 12 passes for 44 yards before being replaced.

Towson finally got on the board in the third quarter with a 31-yard field goal from Caden Williams, cutting the deficit to 24-3. The score was set up by the Tigers’ first big play of the day, a 40-yard deep ball from Nathan Kent to John Dunmore.

Stony Brook answered with another Mannino field goal early in the fourth quarter, this time from 22 yards, to push the lead back to 27-3 and seemingly put the game out of reach.

But Kent, a sophomore from Eldersburg, Maryland, ignited a frantic Towson comeback attempt. He engineered two quick touchdown drives in the final eight minutes, both culminating in long touchdown passes.

The first was a 16-yard strike to Dunmore, who finished with seven receptions for 119 yards. After a failed two-point conversion, the score stood at 27-9. Towson then recovered an onside kick, though it was negated by a penalty, forcing them to rely on their defense, which delivered a quick stop.

Kent went back to work, leading a 67-yard drive that ended with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Jaceon Doss with 3:37 remaining. The two-point conversion was again unsuccessful, leaving the score at 27-16. After another defensive stand, Kent drove the Tigers to the Stony Brook 29-yard line, but the drive stalled, resulting in a 47-yard field goal from Williams with under two minutes to play, making it 27-19.

The ensuing onside kick was recovered by Stony Brook, and Dempster sealed the victory with a series of powerful runs, including a 40-yard burst, that allowed the Seawolves to run out the clock.

Kent finished the game 10 of 22 for 183 yards with the two touchdowns and added 20 yards on the ground. His late-game heroics, however, were not enough to overcome the early deficit created by Stony Brook’s ground-and-pound attack and a dominant first-half defensive performance.

The Seawolves out-gained Towson 396 yards to 270 and held a significant advantage in time of possession. MarQeese Dietz provided a spark in the return game for Stony Brook, with 65 yards on punt returns.

Stony Brook travels to face Maine next Saturday, while Towson is set to visit North Carolina A&T.