MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

Brockport pulling away from the Lakers. Now in front 68-44 with 5:12 left to play.

Brockport vs Plattsburgh tomorrow for the rubber match and all the marbles.  Early line has the Golden Eagles listed as a 5 point favorite.

[magicman]

Final Score Brockport State 77 Oswego 56. 

I had the Golden Eagles wining this one by an 81-74 final score. Close with the Brockport total, expected a better game from the Lakers.  Brockport gains a measure of revenge and will try to do the same thing tomorrow to avenge the only home loss they had all year. Should be another good game, wish I was there.

[bports]

Magic how come Plattsburgh is missing 2 starters? Will they play tomorrow?

[magicman]

Magic how come Plattsburgh is missing 2 starters? Will they play tomorrow?

Not sure.

[magicman]

Kevin McMahon completed the Triple Play as the reigning SUNYAC Player of the Week was named to the D3hoops Team of the Week for his outstanding play during the week of February 17-23. Kevin was also named as the ECAC Upstate Player of the Week to sweep the 3 awards just as the other 2 SUNYAC players, Justin Mitchell and John Ivy did earlier in the season.  Here's the write up from D3hoops.

Kevin McMahon
"McMahon scored a career-high 39 points in overtime loss to Oswego and added his 10th double-double of season in win vs. Geneseo. McMahon averaged 31 points and 11 rebounds for the week, shooting 63 percent from the floor and 5-for-7 from beyond the arc."

Here's a link to the complete Team of the Week:

http://www.d3hoops.com/awards/tow/2013-14/week13

Here's the write up from the ECAC website:

Kevin McMahon – SUNY Cortland
Senior, Forward, Hoosick Falls, NY

"McMahon averaged 31 points and 11 rebounds per game and shot 63 percent from the field (71 percent from 3-point range) in a 1-1 week for the Red Dragons. He opened the week with 23 points and 15 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season in a 65-53 win over Geneseo. McMahon scored a career-high 39 points on 16-of-21 shooting from the floor in a 78-76 overtime loss to Oswego Saturday. He made a layup with 10 seconds left to force the overtime period."


Great way to end an outstanding collegiate career.  Congratulations Kevin.

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State 73 Geneseo State 69

Quite a game the Brockport fans got to see today in the first semifinal game. The box score says that there were 600 fans on hand for this game and 1500 on hand for the 2nd semifinal between Brockport and Oswego. The smaller crowd certainly got the better game in terms of competitiveness.

There were 22 lead changes and 11 ties in this contest before the Cardinals came up with the decisive plays in the final 45 seconds of the game.

Eddie Correa was the game's high scorer with 20 points as he once again demonstrated why he leads the SUNYAC with the most 3 pointers. He was 5 for 12 from long range but it was his 2 blocks that had almost as big an impact as his 20 points. The Cardinals were down 59-52 as Geneseo had opened up some daylight with a 10-3 run with 9 minutes remaining. The Cards scored to cut the lead to 5 points and on Geneseo's next possession the 6'1" Correra blocked Connor Fedge's attempt at a layup. Plattsburgh got the ball off the block and the Cardinals John Perez ultimately scored on a putback to cut the lead to 3. Again Geneseo came down and went to Fedge, who got loose inside for another layup attempt and once again Correa blocked it from behind to give the Cardinals the ball. This time Correa finished off the turnover with another one of his patented three pointers as the Cardinals tied the score and ended the Knights momentum. Those 2 plays were as important as anything else that occurred in the game. It was a huge swing at a time when the Cardinals seemed to be most vulnerable. The 7 point advantage that Geneseo  had was their largest lead of the game and they were looking for more. And instead, with 7:30 left to play, the score was tied at 59 with the 7-0 Cardinal run. The lead was never greater than 3 points for either team, from that point until the final score.

Correa was just one of the many heroes for Plattsburgh and though he was the leading scorer my MVP award has to go to senior forward John Perez. John once again managed a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds. That's hard enough to do but when you have to do it on the same floor that has Gordon Lyons, it makes it even tougher, as the big man for the Knights has been a nearly unstoppable force this year with his inside game.

John's 13 rebounds made him the leading rebounder in tonight's game. He just missed scoring honors by 2 points, had 6 assists which was also a game high and topped it off with another game high of 4 steals. And then there were the key plays he made in the last few seconds of the game.  Here's what I posted earlier as the game was going on:


"What a play by John Perez to  save the game for the Cardinals. Up 70-69 the Cardinals had to play defense against the Knights  who had the ball and a chance to win the game with 15 seconds left to play. Perez managed to steal the ball from Connor Fedge and was fouled with 9 seconds to go. John makes the 1st free throw but misses the second and as the ball bounces off the rim toward the sideline, Perez manages to grab the ball before a Geneseo player gets there and as he's falling out of bounds has the smarts to call time out with 7 seconds left.

Plattsburgh inbounds the ball after the time out and Perez is fouled once again. This time he makes both free throws to give the Cardinals the win 73-69. Geneseo has one last attempt at a three pointer that is no good and Plattsburgh survives to advance to the Championship game for the 2nd year in a row."

That's why John gets the MVP award for tonight's game.

Ezra Hodgson was another Cardinal player that made some big time plays to keep the Cardinals in this game. It seemed like every time Ezra scored it was to either tie the game up or give Plattsburgh the lead right up until his final jumper which turned out to be the winning points with 44 seconds left. Ezra scored 18 points and had 4 rebounds while logging a season high 33 minutes of action.

Point guard Chris Manning had 8 points and 4 assists and did his usual stellar job of running the Cardinal offense and distributing the ball. Back up point guard Mike Mitchell also had a good game with 4 rebounds 3 points and 2 assists.

Anthony Baker who normally comes off the bench was needed in a starting role today and contributed 21 valuable minutes guarding the Knights primary option Gordon Lyons. He did a decent job on Lyons limiting the Knights big man to 7 points and 4 rebounds when he was in the game. Anthony had 4 points and grabbed 3 rebounds and had a big basket when the Knights went up by 2 late in the game. Anthony got the ball on the left side and drove to the hoop to score and tie the game at 66. For a guy who doesn't usually see action at a crucial moment in a big game Anthony came through when he was needed.         

The Cardinals didn't have a great day shooting the rock as they were only 25x68 from the field (36.8%). They were 8x29 from 3 point land (27.6%) and 15x22 (68.2%) from the line. They ended up with 37 rebounds to 38 for Geneseo.

The Knights had a better day shooting as they were 26x51 (51%) from the field, 7x14 (50%) from long range and 10x15 (66.7%) from the line. The key stat that countered the better shooting by Geneseo was the turnover battle. The Knights gave the ball away 14 times while the Cardinals only had 5 turnovers, one of their best performances all year. The Cardinals got 12 points off those turnovers to 7 points for Geneseo off the Cardinal giveaways. An even bigger factor was the 21 2nd chance points that Plattsburgh had to only 7 for the Knights.     
                       
Geneseo got 18 points from Gordon Lyons who almost matched Perez's double-double with 12 rebounds. Matt Curry had 18 points also, along with 6 rebounds. Connor Fedge added 16 points with 6 rebounds while Devon Anderspn had 8 points and 2 rebounds off the bench. Point guard Thomas Decker had 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 points. James Mckenna  also came off the bench with 6 rebounds, 5 points, 4 assists and 2 steals.

The Knights will now await their fate on Monday and hope that the NCAA will award them one of the 19 at large bids up for grabs. They certainly have the resume for one of the coveted bids with a 21-6 overall record. They really don't have a bad loss on their slate and if the East Region gets 2 at large bids then they are in. Personally I think they get that bid.

Plattsburgh advances to face the regular season champs on their home court once again. Things are a little different this time around with some key personnel missing on both sides. For the 3rd time this year Plattsburgh has to face the toughest 2 teams in the SUNYAC (other than themselves) in back to back games while their opponents didn't have to do that. Looks like another great game on tap. Regardless of the outcome both teams along with Geneseo should all get tickets to the Big Dance. Certainly would be nice to see that happen.       

[magicman]

The SUNYAC got a little ink on the front page of D3hoops Friday night.  Here's what was said:

"Edward Correa scored 20 and Ezra Hodgson and John Perez added 18 apiece as Plattsburgh State advanced to the SUNYAC title game, defeating Geneseo 73-69. Brockport advanced to the title game as well, as Aaron White scored 18 points including 12 in the second half to lead the Eagles to a convincing 77-56 victory over Oswego."

Hey, I said it was a little ink...what did you expect.    Here's the link to the front page:

http://d3hoops.com/notables/2014/02/wrapup-feb28-men

[magicman]

Brockport 77 Oswego 56

Short summary of yesterday's game.

Brockport didn't waste any time jumping on the Lakers. Five minutes into the game the score was 13-4 and 2 possessions later it was 18-4. The Lakers managed to get within 6 points at 21-15 but the Golden Eagles responded with 5 unanswered markers to once again return the lead to double digits. It would stay that way heading into the break at 30-19.

The Lakers came out of the locker room and cut into the lead and once again tried to make a game of it as they narrowed the lead to 6 points at 31-25. They continued to hang around and after Brockport once again built the lead back to 11, Oswego got a pair of bombs from Daniel Ross and Kyle Covley, on back to back possessions to get within shouting distance again at 40-34 with 14 minutes left in the game. They would get no close as the Golden Eagles put together a 22-8 run over the next 7 minutes to build a 20 point lead at 62-42 and effectively put the game away. It was then, just a question, of what the final margin would be.

Brockport was led by freshman Aaron White who came off the bench and scored 18 points on 6x11 shooting from the field. He was 3x5 from long distance and 3 x4 from the line. In the 3 games that Brockport has been without the services of John Ivy, White, who was averaging 4.3 points per game, has scored 21 points, 12 points and 18 points. His court time has increased from 16 minutes a game to 22 minutes a game. He has certainly helped pick up the slack for the loss of Ivy.

Clifton Lyerly, another freshman has also been instrumental in helping Brockport cover Ivy's loss. Lyerly scored 12 points yesterday and had 8 rebounds with 3 assists.

Point guard Brandon Caruthers is the glue that will hold this team together and yesterday he had 12 points, 5 rebounds 4 steals and 1 assist. Patrick Coyle came offthe bench to grab a team high 10 rebounds to go with his 5 points. Olusola Adeniran had 8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks, and a steal.

Brockport outshot the Lakers from the field 45.2% (28x62) to 28.3% (17x60) and from long range 41.7% (5x12) to 10.5% (2x19). Pretty hard to win a ballgame with shooting percentages that the Lakers put up in this game. They did mangae to outscore the Golden Eagles from the line 20x23 to 16x26 but the 4 points were meaningless in the scope of the game. The Lakers were outrebounded 46-37 and had 14 turnovers to 12 for Brockport.  Brockport got 23 points off turnovers to 7 for Oswego. The Golden Eagles also got 38 points from their bench to only 14 for the Lakers. In my prediction for this game I mentioned how the depth of Brockport has made them a national power this year. That depth was never more evident than in this game as the Golden Eagles simply outplayed the Lakers in every category. But they've been doing that to teams all year long.

Oswego was led by Rashawn Powell with a double-double of 17 points and a game high 12 rebounds. Daniel Ross added 11 points but was only 3x17 from the field as the Brockport guards were all over him the entire game. Walter Sampson added 10 points off the bench. A telling statistic is that Oswego as a team only had 4 assists and no player had more than 1.

Brockport improves to 23-3 and will face Plattsburgh in the Championship Game at 4 PM today

Oswego closes out their season with a 17-10 overall record.       

[magicman]

The Big Game is finally here and the top two teams in the conference have fittingly avoided the upsets to advance to the championship and earn the automatic NCAA invitation to the Division III tournament.

Plattsburgh State at Brockport State  4:00 PM

Both teams come into this game with a slghtly different look than what was on display in their previous 2 matchups. The Golden Eagles have lost John Ivy, their Mr. Everything. Ivy has made a strong case for Player of the Year honors in the SUNYAC despite missing the last 2 games of  the regular season and the playoffs. His 21 ppg average led the conference in scoring but that was only 1 facet of his game. Brockport however has made up for his loss going 3-0 in the games they haven't had him. The depth of this team has carried them and the coaching staff is hoping it will continue to do so in the NCAA tournament.

Plattsburgh is missing their top two scorers for today's contest. Shavar Fields (14.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg) is done for the year and he was the leading scorer and 2nd leading rebounder on the team. Shamoy McIntosh has been playing injured for the past month and he was the leading scorer on the team for most of the year until his numbers slipped and Fields overtook him. McIntosh went down in the last regular season game against Buffalo State and is expected to return to the lineup but won't see any action again today. He is averaging 12.8 ppg and is the 3rd best rebounder with 4.2 rpg. The loss of both of these players is certainly a big handicap going into a game of this magnitude against one of the best teams in the country.

I didn't think there was any way that the Cardinals could win yesterday's game against Geneseo but I sure wasn't going to pick the Knights to beat my Cardinals. I feel more apprehensive today than I diod yesterday and for good reason. The Cards had to work their butts off to defeat geneseo while the Eagles had a relatively easier time in their game against the Lakers. With the bench of the Cardinals considerably shorter than Brockport's I wonder how much gas my guys have left in the tank. I'm still going with them and hope they come out with a nothing to lose attitude and start knocking down shots from the rafters. The oddsmakers have the Golden Eagles favored by a 5 point margin which should be at least 12 points with the Cardinal's missing personnel.  I'm going with Plattsburgh to win a barnburner 82-80.

[magicman]

Plattsburgh leads Brockport 19-6 after 9 minutes have gone by in the game. Might be the best opportunity I have to crow a bit about the Cardinals so I figured I'd get it in while I could.

Cardinals still lead 29-16 with 4:07 left in the first period.

[magicman]

Plattsburgh leads Brockport 37-21 at the half.

If you told me Plattsburgh would enjoy a 16 point halftime lead in this game I'd ask you what you were smoking. The Cardinals have been in front the entire period and after opening up with a 16-5 outburst they have maintained and increased that double digit margin and led by as many as 17 points.

John Perez, is taking up where he left off in yesterday's game as he leads Plattsburgh with 9 points and Ezra Hodgson is close behind with 8. Eddie Correa has hit a pair of 3 pointers to add 6 points. The X-Man, Xavier Thomas, has come off the bench to score 5 points and grab 4 rebounds. Alan Siergiej has also come off the bench and added 5 points with 2 rebounds.

Brandon Caruthers leads Brockport with 5 points. Clifton Lyerly and Matt Lee both have 4 points.

[Bengalsrule]

The Golden Eagles are trying to come back. Down 7 with 10:35 left! Go Cards. If they could make some free throws this game would be over!

[Bengalsrule]

Hodgson for 3!!!! Cards up by 13!!

[magicman]

Brockport close to within 5 points at 43-38 but the Cardinals have responded with an 8-0 run capped by a Ezra Hodgson 3 pointer to build it back up to a 13 point, 51-38 advantage, with 9 minutes left to play.

[magicman]

And it's now officially a barnburner. Brockport trails by 2 points 52-50 with 2:34 left to play.