MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[All-Time]

BengalsRule

The way The Oneonta Red Dragons are playing, we just might agree with each other on Saturday.
We have beaten Buffalo State the past couple of years at Dewar arena the last weekend of the regular season.
This year the tides have turned and we need to win up in Buffalo which will be no small task.

Can't quite explain what happened to them. They came out of the blocks with such Swagger in the beginning of the season and then things went South from there.
When I watch them play lately, they don't look anything like the team that beat up some of the best teams in the conference.
They are playing not to lose instead of playing to win.

I know this group had such high expectations for themselves, ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION with the graduation of Zach Mager and Frank Kelly. They need to step up BIG this weekend and it done like the teams before them.

It should be a CRAZY game on Saturday. Can't wait.

[magicman]

More Weekend Round Up

Saturday Games

Brockport State 84  New Paltz 70

The Golden Eagles almost came up with the 86 points I said they'd score and the Hawks added a few more than the 62 I thought they would put up. Close enough to make me smile though.

The Hawks held the lead in this one for the first 9 minutes but Port finally caught them at 18-18 on a Clifton Lyerly layup and then went ahead for the first time on a Pat Modzelewski bucket with 9:48 left in the half. 3 lead changes and a tie would occur before the Eagles would take a 3 possession lead on 4 straight points by Matthew Smith to end the period 43-36.

The Hawks came out of the break and scored the first 7 points to tie the game up on a steal and dunk by Brandon Guest. Clifton Lyerly then reeled off 7  straight points for Brockport on the strength of 2 layups and 2 trips to the line. The Golden Eagles managed to stay in front by several possessions over the next 5 minutes until the Hawks cut the deficit to 60-57 on a tip in by Guest and a 3 pointer by Dylan Balducci with 10:30 left to play. Once again Brockport responded and opened up a 9 point margin that grew to 15 by the 4 minute mark. The lead reached 19 points and the Hawks scored the final 5 points to make the final margin of 84-70.

Clifton Lyerly was the big gun for the Eagles as he captured scoring and rebounding honors with his double-double of 24 points and 13 rebounds. He was 9x15 from the field and 6x11 from the line.

Devonn Gavin had 15 points on 7x10 shooting with a 3 pointer in there. He also had 3 rebounds 2 assists and 2 steals.

Levi Pace had 14 points, 3 rebounds, a steal and a block while Matthew Smith added 10 points.

Dylan Balducci led New Paltz with 14 points. Brandon Guest had 12 points and a team high 5 rebounds.

Keegan Donovan had 10 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals and a block. RJ Rosa had 9 points, 6 assists and 2 steals. Alex Perlman had 8 points, tied Guest with 5 rebounds, had 3 assists and a steal.

Brockport is now 15-7 overall and 10-5 in the conference. If the Golden Eagles win their 3 remaining games they will clinch the 2nd seed in the conference tournament. If they win a semifinal game and lose in the championship game they would end up with a 19-8 record. Last year Plattsburgh State lost in the championship game of the YAC tournament and ended up 19-8. They were the top seed in the East that didn't have an automatic bid and they sat through 19 selection rounds and were never chosen for a Pool C bid. No team from the East Region got a Pool C bid last year. Yet 3 years ago Plattsburgh ended up with that same identical 19-8 record and not only were selected but they hosted a first round game. So you just never know. Brockport does have the best SOS in the East Region so that may help if they are in that situation. If they lose one of their 3 remaining regular season games they could end up 18-9 or possibly 19-9 if they have to play a quarterfinal game. I don't think they have a prayer of getting a Pool C bid with 9 losses.



Geneseo State 79 Oneonta State 74

I almost nailed this one as I had Geneseo winning by a 79-76 final score. I'll be speaking to Mr. McElroy if they should make a return visit to Plattsburgh for the YAC  tournament. That offensive rebound he grabbed with 3 seconds left, should have been a putback for him instead of a pass to Dignan for a 3 point attempt. Would have given me perfection. After getting roughed up by Oswego that afternoon it might have put a smile back on my face.

The Red Dragons looked like they were going to take care of business in this one after the initial "feeling each other out", phase transpired. Trailing the Knights by a score of 8-7 five minutes into the game the Dragons put together a 15-2 run to go up by a 22-10 margin over the next  5 minutes. Three trifectas in a row, 2 by Ian Schupp and 1 by Jack Dignan caused most of the damage but...you live by three, you can also die by that same action and the Red Dragons went to the well a few times too many. They hoisted up long range bombs in their next 3 trips down the floor and came up empty each time allowing Geneseo to narrow the gap to a two possession lead. Jackson Zuvic still wasn't convinced that 3 point bombs were bad and he drained a pair of them on Oneonta's next 2 offensive sets, both times assisted by Dignan. Seth Thomsen then scored on a layup and a free throw making the score 33-20 and once again the Red Dragons seemed to be in control with 4 minutes left in the half. The Knights outscored Oneonta 10-5 to end the half on the short end of a 38-30 score, but at least they had it back to single digits.

The teams jockeyed back and forth for the early part of the 2nd period and after the Knights had pulled to within 3 points at 42-39, Thomsen hit a 3, Lawrence Coleman jammed one home and the lead was still 8 at 47-39, with 15 minutes left to play. The Knights weren't going away however, and a 12-2 run capped by 5 points from Justin Ringen on a drive, followed by a 3 pointer, gave the Knights their first lead since the game was 5 minutes old. The teams would trade 3 pointers, first Dignan for Oneonta, then Jon Cohen for the Knights. Miky McElroy got an offensive rebound and scored inside to tie it up, but Cohen was quick to drain another 3 and the Knights went back in front. For the next 9 minutes the Knights would keep the lead as it would float between 1 to 6 points  and every time the Red Dragons closed to within a point or 2 Geneseo had an answer. Finally 8 straight points by Coleman on a pair of 3's and a pair of free throws brought the home team even with the Knights at 69-69 with 2:19 left in the game. The Knights went to the line and made 2 free throws and Oneonta went foul shooting as well but only hit 1 of 2. Ringen got the rebound off the missed free throw and buried another 3 pointer to make it a 2 possession game. McElroy hit a pair from the line on Oneonta's next trip down, but the Knights responded with another 3 pointer and the lead was 77-72 with 30 seconds left. McElroy was fouled and made them both to cut the lead to 3 but Ringen went to the line on the other end and made both his free throws to close out the Red Dragons.

Justin Ringen Led all scorers with 26 points (9x15 fg, 4x7 3's, 4x4 ft), 5 rebounds, 1 asssist and a steal.
Kevin Crockett had 13 points. John Decker had 12 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds and a steal. Connor Keenan had 10 points, 2 assists and a steal. Ringen's 5 rebounds led the Knights who got killed on the boards 43 to 26. I guess when you shoot 25x49 (51%) from  the field and 10 x25 from long distance (40%) you don't need rebounding. 19x23 from the line (82.6%) is also not to shabby.

Oneonta got another double-double from Mikey McElroy of 19 points, a game high 10 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal. Lawrence Coleman also had 19 points with 6 rebounds. Seth Thomsen added 10 points and 4 rebounds. Jack Dignan had 6 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds and a block. Jackson Zuvic had 9 points with 3 rebounds, while Kareem Williams added 5 points, 5 boards and 2 blocks.

The Red Dragons with 2 games left control their own destiny. Win them both and they will make the playoffs. Anything less and they could be watching the Bengals or Blue Devils take a spot that sure looked like it had Oneonta's name written all over it, a short time ago.

Geneseo hoping to duke it out with Brockport for the 2nd seed but Oswego State is on a roll and may have something to say about that. Tonight is a big game between the Lakers and the Knights.



Cortland State 87  Potsdam State 71

Another game that came fairly close to my  pregame prediction. I had the Red Dragons winning by an 85-68 final score. Both teams scored a basket more than I gave them credit for. It was that jumper that Blair Estaefaa scored for Cortland with 4 minutes left when he shot, missed, got his own rebound, shot again and made it, that screwed me up on the Red Dragon's side. And Joe Estramonte made 2 three pointers at the end of the game for the Bears final 6 points, to cut a 22 point lead down to 16. One would have been sufficient, Joe.   

After getting roughed up by Plattsburgh on Friday night, these Red Dragons weren't about to let the Bears think they might have a chance for the upset. The two teams went back and forth for about the first 10 minutes when there were 11 lead changes and several ties. Knotted up at 18-18 the Red Dragons used a 12 to 3 run to put some daylight between the Bears and themselves. Potsdam's Joe Estramonte kept the Bears within shouting distance as he scored 11 straight points for his team on a pair of 3 pointers to keep the lead at 6 points for a while. When Cortland moved out to an 11 point lead it was Estramonte again with a layup to cut it back to single digits. Once more Cortland went in front by 11 and Estramonte made a 3 pointer the hard way with a drive and free throw to make it 40-32 in favor of Cortland with 1:50 left in the period. The Red Dragons scored on their final 2 possessions of the half and the Bears quit going to Estramonte. They came up empty both times they had the ball and Cortland was now in front by 45-32 score.

Needing to make something coming out of the break, the Bears instead, found the going tough, and it was Cortland who scored the first 5 points of the period. The Bears were now down 18 points and they never recovered from that deficit. Cortland's lead was never less than 13 points the rest of the way and grew to be as much as 24, with 4:40 left in the game.

Blair Estarfaa led Cortland with 17 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. He was 7x13 from the field and 3x6 from downtown. JP Reagan had 14 points (6x10 fg, 2x6 3's), 5 rebounds, 4 assists and a block. TJ Hefele had 14 points (5x10 fg, 3x7 3's, 1x1 ft) 4 assists, 4 steals, and 3 rebounds. Michael Kelly and Carrell Joseph both scored 11 points.

Potsdam was led by Joe Estramonte who captured scoring honors for the game with 24 points. He was 9x18 from the field, 5x11 from deep, and 1x1 from the line. He also had 6 assists and 4 rebounds. Mitch Lamerson had 14 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assist. Both these guys are seniors and their playing days at Potsdam are just about over. It was nice to see that they both had good days on Senior Day. Tough to go through the past 2 years with so few wins but I'm sure they made friends that will last them a lifetime through their participation in D3 athletics. I know I did, as do all the student athletes who choose to play sports in college.

Nosa Onabor had 15 points going 5x8 from downtown and Serigne Kane had 13 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and a block. Nate Wyatte led the team by grabbing 7 rebounds, with 5 points and 3 assists.

The Bears finish their schedule against the 3 top teams in the standings so their chances of another win don't look too good. Hopefully the young talent on the team will continue to improve and come back next year and will be hungry to take the next step to become winners.

Cortland, currently tied with Oswego for 4th place, has 2 games left and can finish as high as 2nd place or as low as 5th place. The game against Brockport scheduled for tonight and switched to Wednesday night will be huge for both teams.

If the Red Dragons win out and get the 2nd seed and lose in the conference championship they could end up with a 19-8 record but their SOS isn't very good (currently .489 as of last week's regional rankings). They could also end up with a 20-8 record if they win out but end up as the 3rd seed. They would then play an extra tournament game in the quarterfinal round. Still don't think they will get a Pool C bid. The Red Dragons will only go dancing if they win the YAC Championship.               

[pg04]

Definitely not expecting any gift from the committee, especially given Plattsburgh's experience. The only chance for anyone but Plattsburgh appears to be winning the tournament.

[magicman]

Tuesday February 16th    Snowstorm Woes Cancel 2 Games Leaving Just 1 Game On Tap

Geneseo State at Oswego State  7:30 PM

The game between these 2 teams won't necessarily clear up anything involving seeds 2 through 5. If Oswego loses they won't have an opportunity to claim the 2 seed as they will fall to 10-7 and lose any tiebreaker with Geneseo. Geneseo can still lose this game and rally to claim the #2 seed if things go right on the weekend. The Knights are already gaining an advantage by playing their game today as scheduled. The other 3 teams taking part in the Western swing, Plattsburgh, Potsdam and Brockport by postponing today's game until tomorrow, will now have to play 3 games in 4 days while Geneseo gets that extra day of rest before the weekend. For the North Country teams, Plattsburgh in particular, this trip west has already started off on the wrong foot and it won't even start for 2 more days.

Oswego will certainly have revenge in mind for tonight's game. Just 2 weeks ago they were a fingertip away from walking out of Alumni Fieldhouse with a hard earned W. In a game that featured 10 ties and 16 lead changes the Lakers came down to the final seconds trailing 78-77 after a pair of Geneseo free throws gave the host team the lead with 1:25 to play. Oswego then committed a turnover 14 seconds later but got the favor returned when the Knights turned it over with 41 seconds remaining. After a Laker timeout Brian Sortino drained a jumper to give the visitors a 1 point lead. After another Laker timeout the Knights came down and took a shot with 10 seconds left and Oswego had the rebound and then they didn't as it went out of bounds off of a Laker player.That would have probably meant a Laker win as the Knights would have had to foul. Now  with a fresh possession they inbounded the ball and Kevin Crockett made a layup as time was running out to win by an 80-79 final.

Tonight should be round 2 of another slugfest between two teams that love the three point line and aren't  particularly concerned who shoots from long distance and how many times they do so. The last game  had 6 players from each team taking shots from behind the arc. Between them they made 26 triples and attempted 59 shots from long distance. And just how many shots did they take from inside the 3 point line?...You guessed it 59. This was the game that when I wrote it up I commented on how many stats were identical. Rebounds, assists, turnovers, offensive boards, defensive boards, bench points all identical and a number of other stats very close. So take your pick or flip a coin to come up with a winner. Me, I'll consult my crystal ball.

The oddsmakers have made the home team a 3 point favorite in this one  and I can't go against that. Having watched Oswego play just a few days ago that memory is etched into my temporal lobe quite well. The Lakers are playing their best ball of the season right now and have won 9 of their last 11 games including 5 in a row.
Plus the Lakers have went 11-1 in the 12 games Mykelle Krecko has either started or played double digit minutes. The only loss being that heartbreaker in Geneseo. I can't buck that stat. Tonight the Lakers reverse that game and win by a 77-73 final score.               

[Bengalsrule]

Geneseo State at Oswego State is supposed to go off as scheduled tonight. The only game in town.

Id be surprised if that game isn't rescheduled also!

[Bengalsrule]

Definitely not expecting any gift from the committee, especially given Plattsburgh's experience. The only chance for anyone but Plattsburgh appears to be winning the tournament.

Don't know pg04. Id be shocked if the SUNYAC is less than 2 bids (more likely 3) Plattsburgh can stop playing now and still get in. Gotta believe whomever makes it to the championship game has a shot. New regional rankings should be coming out today/tomorrow. 4 of top 6 should be SUNYAC!

Keep hope alive!!

[pg04]

Definitely not expecting any gift from the committee, especially given Plattsburgh's experience. The only chance for anyone but Plattsburgh appears to be winning the tournament.

Don't know pg04. Id be shocked if the SUNYAC is less than 2 bids (more likely 3) Plattsburgh can stop playing now and still get in. Gotta believe whomever makes it to the championship game has a shot. New regional rankings should be coming out today/tomorrow. 4 of top 6 should be SUNYAC!

Keep hope alive!!

Just essentially going off of what happened to Plattsburgh. I think the chances for 2 lie with Plattsburgh not winning the conference. No teams were chosen from the East last year, so the rankings are basically just there.

As much as I would love it, overall I think the 7th loss is the death knell to all the SUNYAC teams for our "esteemed" committee 

[magicman]

Definitely not expecting any gift from the committee, especially given Plattsburgh's experience. The only chance for anyone but Plattsburgh appears to be winning the tournament.

Don't know pg04. Id be shocked if the SUNYAC is less than 2 bids (more likely 3) Plattsburgh can stop playing now and still get in. Gotta believe whomever makes it to the championship game has a shot. New regional rankings should be coming out today/tomorrow. 4 of top 6 should be SUNYAC!

Keep hope alive!!

I wish it was as easy as you make it out to be Champ. Plattsburgh could still end up with 8 losses. Hopefully they won't but the "Plattsburgh can stop playing now and get in" just isn't true. We saw what 19-8 was good for last year. Not much. Granted it varies from year to year and the biggest factor, as it is every time the Pool C bids are selected, depends on how many conference leaders win their automatic bid. In regions like New England, the Great Lakes and the Central with lots of teams and conferences if there are a number of upsets in conference tournaments, where a 3rd or 4th seed walks off with the automatic bid then the number of Pool C bids normally going to 2nd place conference teams will be limited. This will affect every region but especially a region like the East with so few ranked teams. So right now it's hard to say who will get a bid and who won't. That speculation will be better suited once we know how many teams are getting automatic bids that really shouldn't be dancing. If those teams number more than a few here and there, then a number of teams on the bubble will find their bubble popped because so many good teams that got upset in their conference tournament will take those Pool C bids away from the bubble teams.           

[magicman]

New regional rankings should be coming out today/tomorrow. 4 of top 6 should be SUNYAC!

There is a possibility that Plattsburgh may not be the #1 team in the East when tomorrow's rankings come out. KnightSlappy's rankings has Rochester #1 and Plattsburgh #2. Brockport is #3, Geneseo is #4, NYU is #5 and Oswego is #6.

I'm hoping he's wrong and that the top 2 are reversed, but I knew Rochester might move up. They were 2-0 last week, while we were 1-1.

[All-Time]

Oswego over Geneseo tonight by double digits

Enjoy the game

[pg04]

Not SUNYAC but Lancaster Bible is such an interesting story. I mean, the way the east has been given very little love by committee, I believe now more than ever that they can't get in with a loss in their tournament. Having one loss and not getting in seems like it would be such a travesty but given the criteria it very well could happen.

[magicman]

Not SUNYAC but Lancaster Bible is such an interesting story. I mean, the way the east has been given very little love by committee, I believe now more than ever that they can't get in with a loss in their tournament. Having one loss and not getting in seems like it would be such a travesty but given the criteria it very well could happen.

I know what you mean 24-1 and they stay home. Actually they won't because they have this other affiliation...the NCCAA..that they could go and play in their national tournament. I think they can still declare for that if they want to.  Last year they won a national championship in that tournament. The SOS of Lancaster Bible is the worst one in the entire East Region. Even worse than all the other members of their conference.

[magicman]

Geneseo State at Oswego State is supposed to go off as scheduled tonight. The only game in town.

Id be surprised if that game isn't rescheduled also!

Well you must be surprised then.   Oswego up 29-28 with 1:46 left in the half.

[magicman]

Halftime score Geneseo State 30 Oswego State 29

Justin Ringen with 10 points and Kevin Crockett with 7 for Geneseo

Keith Tyson with 8 points and Kyle Covely with 7 for Oswego

[pg04]

I'm surprised Geneseo was able to get to Oswego the way it looked up there in the Rochester area (according to my social media).