MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State 87 Buffalo State 80

Another exciting game between these two teams that featured a fast paced contest with great athleticism by both sides.

Plattsburgh trailed 6-2 early on but took the lead on a 14-0 run to go in front 16-6. It was 6 points from Jon Patron, 4 points from Chris Middleton and 4 points from Ian Howard to fuel the outburst. For the rest of the period the lead fluctuated between 5 and a high of 11 points. Down by 9 the Bengals got a hoop and harm from Lovell Smith with 8 seconds left in the half to cut the lead to 6 at the break. (copied this from my halftime post)

The 2nd half continued much like the previous one as the Cardinals would open some daylight on a pair of 3 pointers by Patron and Eli Bryant to go up by double digits at 55-45. The Bengals responded with 8 points from Mike Henry and 7 points from Lovell Smith to outscore Plattsburgh 15-6 and make it 61-60. Jordan Chateau was fouled and made 1 of 2 to knot the score at 61 and the tension was ratcheted up another notch.

Plattsburgh's high flying Eric Mack jammed one home, hit 1 of 2 from the line and scored inside again to sandwich a dunk by Lovell Smith to put the Cardinals back in front by a 66-63 score. The Bengals got a layup from Henry to close within a point but the hero of last year's game in Buffalo, when he calmly dribbled the clock down with Plattsburgh trailing 92-91, and sank a 3 pointer to beat the Bengals 94-92, decided to put on his Superman cape once again. This time Eli Bryant, made another 3 pointer and after both teams missed on a combined 3 possessions, Bryant scored inside off a feed from Patron. The Bengals misfired again and Bryant made them pay with another 3 ball to put the Cardinals back up by 9 points at 74-65 with 7 minutes to go. For me that was the turning point of the game. When big man Isaiah Hill buried a 3 pointer to extend the lead to 12 points a minute later, the hole was too deep for the Bengals to dig out of. Jordan Chateau scored, Smith scored and Henry scored to cut the lead back to 6 points but Bryant was there once again with a jumper to make it a 3 possession game with 3:26 to go. The Bengals got as close as 5 points down the stretch but the Cardinals made enough free throws to come away with the win. The ref's seemed lost at times and there were several long stoppages of play to sort things out. They had Eric Mack at the line taking free throws and after making one and missing one they decided he shoudn't have been given 2 fee throws and so a point was taken off the board. It didn't matter because the Cardinals kept possession due to a technical foul being called and on the inbound pass Mack was fouled again and this time he made 1 of 2 to make it a 6 point lead with 14 seconds remaining. After Brockport came back from 13 points down the other day I wasn't sure any lead was safe. The Bengals missed a 3 pointer on their possession and Eli Bryant was fouled. He made 1 of 2 for the final point of the game.

The Cardinals
Eli Bryant ended up as the Cardinals leading scorer with 19 points (7x12 fg, 4x6 3's, 1x2 ft) and 7 rebounds. His 8 straight points at the 7 minute mark were the main reason the Cardinals can put this game in the win column in my opinion.

Eric Mack is the surprise I was referring to back in April, when I said that the Bengals were the frontrunners to win the conference, but the Cardinals had a surprise or two, that might make me change my mind. Taking over for last year's high flyer, Xavier Thomas, Eric can really get off the ground and his performance tonight was the first of many I'm sure I'll see over the next several years. He missed the St. Lawrence game, as did starting point guard Zack Coleman and it was good to see them both back in the lineup tonight. Eric ended up with a double-double of 18 points (7x13 fg, 0x2 3's, 4x7 ft) and 11 rebounds. It was his 2nd double-double in 4 games as a Cardinal and the 18 points matched his career high at Plattsburgh. He also added 4 blocks and 2 assists in 24 minutes off the bench.

Jon Patron was...well....Jon Patron. When he gets the ball down low he's a hard man to stop. He went inside early for 12 first half points and when the Bengals took that away from Plattsburgh in the 2nd half Patron became a screen setter and a passer, while continuing to get the ball off the boards. He finished with his 3rd double-double in 5 games with 15 points (6x16 fg, 1x3 3's, 2x2 ft) and 13 rebounds. He also added 3 steals and 3 assists. He is now averaging a double-double of 21.3 ppg and 10.2 rpg on the season.

Point guard Zack Coleman, missing on Tuesday night, filled up the stat sheet tonight. He scored 8 points, had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and a block.

Ian Howard had 8 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Chris Middleton had 8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a block. Brandon Johnson had 8 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist in 16 minutes of court time.


The Bengals
Mike Henry equaled his career high for the Bengals as he tossed in 28 points to lead all scorers (11x16 fg, 2x3 3's. 4x7 ft). He completed a double-double with 11 rebounds, which led the team. It was also his 3rd double-double in 5 games this year. His season averages are now 18.6 ppg and 9.8 rpg.

Lovell Smith had 20 points (9x18 fg, 2x4 ft) and grabbed 5 rebounds.

Nico McLean had 12 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal.

J.O. Spence had 7 points and 3 rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench.

The Cardinals outshot the Bengals in all 3 areas. They were 31x73 (42.5%) from the field, 6x14 (42.9%) from 3 point land (a far cry from the 2x25 against SLU on Tuesday), and 19x27 (70.4%) from the line.

The Bengals were 33x79 from the field (41.8%), 5x21 (23.8%) from downtown and 9x20 (45.0%) from the stripe.

Plattsburgh killed Buff State off the boards 59-39, however the Bengals only had 11 turnovers to 19 for the  Cards. The 20 points that the Bengals got off those turnovers helped keep them in the game despite being outshot and outrebounded.

Plattsburgh improves to 4-1 overall, 1-0 in the YAC. They will travel to Fredonia to take on the Blue Devils at 2:00 PM tomorrow.

Buffalo State falls from the undefeated ranks and is now 4-1 overall, 0-1 in the conference and will host Potsdam at 2:00 PM tomorrow.           

[magicman]

Brockport State 93 Oneonta State 83

The teams jockeyed back and forth through the early part of the period and were tied at 16 with 11:18 to go. Brockport then went on a 14-4 spurt that put them up by a double digit 30-20 lead. The rest of the period saw the lead vary between 7 and 13 points before the Golden Eagles went into the break up 50 to 40.

Brockport quickly built the lead to 15 points, 3 minutes into the period and maintained control throughout. The Red Dragons cut into a 14 point lead with a 9-2 burst that brought them within 7 points at 65-58 with 12:47 left  in the game. Not quite 2 minutes later the score was 74-60 and the lead was back to 14. It reached as much as 20 points, as the Eagles had an answer for every Oneonta thrust. If it wasn't Clifton Lyerly with a flurry of points, it was Cordell Torres or Devon Gavin. If it seemed like they scored in bunches, it was because they did.

The Golden Eagles
Lyerly was the leader for Brockport once again, and captured scoring honors with a game high 24 points (10x16 fg, 0x3 3's, 4x8 ft). He got his first double-double of the season with another game high total of 11 rebounds. He added a pair of assists and 2 steals.

Devonn Gavin was close behind with 21 points (9x15 fg, 3x3 3's). 2 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 assist.

Hamed Shamseldin had 14 points (4x14 fg, 3x8 3's, 3x4 ft), 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

Marcus Blythers, had 10 points, 5 blocks, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists.

Cordell Torres had 9 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists.

Jake Mitchell was 1x1 from the field for a 3 pointer and his first points in a Brockport uniform.


The Red Dragons
Dwayne Freeman scored a career high 22 points (9x14 fg, 3x5 3's, 1x1 ft), with 2 assists a rebound and a block

Lawrence Coleman had 21 points (8x14 fg, 2x4 3's). He had a  team high 8 rebounds and 3 steals.

Mikey McElroy had 12 points and 7 rebounds.

Frankie Kelly chipped in with 3 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal.

Freshman Harrison Deegan scored his first SUNYAC points with 7 points in 5 minutes of court time.

Both teams had similar shooting percentages with Brockport  hitting 37x76 (48.7%) and Oneonta shooting  29x61 (47.5%). The Golden Eagles were 8x22 from long range (36.4%) while Oneonta was 7x17 (41.2%). The Red Dragons were quite a bit better from the line making 18x22 free throws (81.8%) to only 11x24 for Brockport (45.8%). Oneonta won the battle of the boards as well, grabbing 44 rebounds to 36 for the Eagles.

I stated in my review of this game that Brockport had the stronger bench and would come at the Red Dragons aggressively and in waves. Their bench outscored Oneonta's bench 36-19 and the Brockport defense was a big factor in this game as they created 25 turnovers to only 13 for the Eagles. Brockport had 13 steals to 5 for Oneonta. The turnover differential resulted in 25 points for Brockport to only 13 points for Oneonta. That 12 point difference mirrored the final score's 10 point margin.

Brockport remains undefeated at 5-0 overall, and 1-0 in the conference will host New Paltz on Saturday at 2:00 PM.

Oneonta falls to 1-4 overall, and 0-1 in league play. They will travel to Geneseo to complete their weekend road trip for a 2:00 matchup on Saturday.         

[magicman]

Geneseo 95  New Paltz 74

The Hawks, fresh off their first victory of the year, came to play, and they had the Knights playing catchup for nearly all of the first half. New Paltz jumped out to early 7-2, 9-4 and 12-7 leads, before Geneseo caught them and went ahead 14-12 with 7 minutes gone by in the opening period. The Hawks didn't fold though and came back to take a 9 point lead on several occasions, with the last one coming at the 5:46 mark and New Paltz ahead 31-22. 7 straight points by John Decker followed by 4 points from Kevin Crockett brought the Knights within 1 at 31-30. A pair of Jack Eisenberg free throws tied the score at 33 but the Hawks got a layup by James Saunders and a 3 pointer from Nick Paquette to go in front 38-33 with just under 2 minutes left in the half. Geneseo countered with 4 straight free throws from Tommy Eastman and a pair from the stripe by Crockett with 36 seconds left to go into the break up 39-38.

Nick Paquette quickly hit another 3 pointer to open the 2nd period and put the Hawks back in front 41-38. It was the last time they would have the lead as Geneseo began firing on all cylinders. Justin Ringen, Eastman, and Jack Manke all scored inside on layups. Then the Knights were the recipients of 4 trips to the line, 3 by John Decker that resulted in 8 made free throws. A 3 point play by Crockett boosted the lead to double figures at 58-46 and the Hawks never got close after that. The Knights scored 5 straight times on layups inside, 3 of them by CJ Burke. Then, the Decker and Ringen show took center stage with those two scoring the next 19 points for the Knights, 10 by Decker and 9 by Ringen. The lead was 27, the score was 87-60 and the celebration had begun. The benches were emptied and the New Paltz reserves outscored the Knights' reserves 14-8 over the final 4:40 to make the score 95-74.

The Knights
John Decker continued his torrid scoring pace as he dropped in 32 points (8x11 fg, 3x5 3's, 13x14 ft) with 5 rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Justin Ringen had 16 points (5x10 fg, 3x5 3's, 3x4 ft) and 3 rebounds.

Freshman Tommy Eastman in his first conference game, had a team leading 7 rebounds and 8 points in 18 minutes off the bench.

Kevin Crockett had 9 points, 3 assists 2 rebounds and a steal in 22 minutes off the bench.

Freshman Terrance Nichols hit his first collegiate 3 pointer and first conference points. He also had 4 assists and 2 rebounds.

Jack Eisenberg had 4 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds and a steal.


The Hawks
Dylan Balducci had 14 points (5x14 fg, 4x11 ft), 3 rebounds and 3 assists.

James Saunders scored 13 points (6x9 fg, 0x1 3's, 1x2 ft) with 2 steals and a block in 13 minutes off the bench. Those were his first points in conference play.

Nick Paquette had 9 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assists and a steal.

Freshman Emilio Cerda had 9 points and 2 assists in 11 minutes off the bench, as he made his debut in a conference game.

CJ Burke had 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and a block.

Freshman Nick Arthur also scored his first YAC points as he had 7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks and a steal.

Freshman Matt English started and scored 5 points in his debut in the SUNYAC conference. He was 2x3 in 14 minutes of court time.

Corey Garcia had 4 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds and a steal.

Geneseo held the edge in all 3 shooting categories as they went  27x55 from the field (49.1%), 9x20 from long distance 45.0%, and 32x41 (78.0) from the line.

New Paltz shot 29x60 from the field (48.3%), 8x24 from behind the arc (33.3%), and 8x11 (72.7%) from the foul line.

The Knights controlled the boards 40-26, had less turnovers 13 to 17, and got 39 points from their bench to 34 for he Hawks.

Geneseo improves to 4-1 overall, 1-0 in the YAC and will host Oneonta on Saturday at 2:00 PM

New Paltz drops to 1-5 overall and 0-1 in conference play. They will travel to Brockport to play the Golden Eagles at 2:00 PM.

   

[magicman]

Fredonia State 79  Potsdam State 59

Coach Jim Bechtel received some rude treatment at the hands of the Blue Devils as they welcomed the first year Potsdam coach into the SUNYAC with a rough 2nd half that pinned a 20 point defeat on the Bears, in his first conference game. Probably not what he had in mind.

The Bears weren't in bad shape at the end of the first period which saw them claw back from three, 15 point deficits, the last one coming with 4:38 left in the half and the score at 34-19. The Bears held Fredonia scoreless for the remainder of the half and went on a 10-0 run to go into the break a mere 5 points down at 34-29.

The Bears leading scorer, Nosa Onabor, had yet to hit a field goal, missing on all 6 first half attempts. but surely that would change in the upcoming 20 minutes. The Bears were still in the game through the early play of the 2nd period. The Blue Devils began to take over when the score stood at 40-36 with 15:52 left to play. Fredonia got scoring from 6 different players led by 7 points from Ian Helps to go on a 22-7 run and stretch their lead to 19 points at 62-43 with 8:19 remaining. The lead reached as much as 25 and the Bears' night was over.

The Blue Devils
Ian Helps had a game high 21 points (8x18 fg, 5x7 ft) and a team high 7 rebounds. He added 3 assists and a block .

Richard De La Cruz had 12 points (3x9 fg, 0x2 3's, 6x6 ft). He had 4 assists. 3 rebounds and 3 steals.

Dante Williams had 11 points (5x7 fg, 1x2 3's), with 3 steals, 2 rebounds and 1 assist.

Tommie Banks had 9 points in 15 minutes off the bench.

Justin Tapper had 6 points 7 rebounds and 2 steals.

Kareem Brown had 5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and a block.

Brandon Hodge had 3 assists, 2 points 2 rebounds and a steal.

Freshman Daquon Smith saw 7 minutes of court time and scored his first SUNYAC points with a 2x2 performance from the field, including his first 3 pointer as a collegian.

Freshman Christian Marinez scored his first conference points as well and grabbed a pair of rebounds in 6 minutes on the floor.


The Bears

Dante Langley started and scored 9 points (4x5 fg, 1x2 3's, 0x1 ft). He was the co-leader in scoring for the Bears in only 16 minutes of court time.

Kevin Baksh also scored 9 points off the bench (3x5 fg, 2x3 3's, 1x2 ft) in 18 minutes of playing time. He had 2 rebounds and a steal.

Freshman Danny Delsol-Lowry started and had 7 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals for his SUNYAC debut .

Freshman Kristoff Saunders scored 6 points with 5 rebounds in his first SUNYAC game, getting 17 minutes off the bench.

Serigne Kane had 5 points, a game high 10 rebounds, 1 assist, a steal and a block.

Freshman  Aaron Armstrong broke into the conference scoring column with 6 points in 20 minutes of court time. He added an assist and a rebound.

Freshman Jaquan Thomas got 15 minutes of court time in his initial conference appearance. He scored 3 points, had 2 steals and a rebound.

Fredonia outshot the Bears in 2 of the 3 shooting categories. They were 30x68 (44.1%) from the field, 3x13 (23.1%) from 3 point range, and 16x20 (80.0%) from the line.

The Bears were just 19x58 from the field (32.8%), 7x27 from downtown (25.9%) and    14x23 (60.9%) from the stripe.

Potsdam was outboarded 44-37 and had 16 turnovers to 13 for the Blue Devils. The Bears couldn't stop the Blue Devils from scoring inside as they almost doubled Potsdam production in the paint... 46 points to 24 for the Bears. That was the biggest reason for the wide margin at the end of the game. That and the fact that Potsdam had a tough shooting night from some of their better shooters.

Fredonia improves to 3-3 overall and 1-0 in the YAC. They will host Plattsburgh State Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM

Potsdam won't find the going any easier this weekend as they travel over to Buffalo State to take on an angry Bengals team who suffered their first loss of the season Friday night. They will want to erase that bad memory and the Bears will be the recipient of their vengeance. Potsdam falls to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

   
         

[All-Time]

5 games on tap today
3 of them should be pretty easy to predict
Brockport all over New Paltz
Buffalo State all over Potsdam
Plattsburgh all over Fredonia

The 2 games that are tough to call are
Cortland vs Oswego and Oneonta vs Geneseo
I'm hoping my Red Dragons can finally get back on the winning track today.
Oneonta in a close one, look for Frankie Kelly to have a big game today.

If Cortland plays the way they did against Ithaca they will give Oswego all they can handle.
Cortland in another close one

Enjoy the games

[magicman]

All ten teams in action today. All games starting at 2:00 PM

Dec. 3rd   

Oneonta State  at  Geneseo State        2:00 PM Featured Game of the Day

The Red Dragons will not find their first conference win of the season today against the Knights. I would love to see it happen but the Dynamic Duo of Ringen and Decker will prove to be too much to overcome. Geneseo has owned the Red Dragons in recent memory going 10-1 over the past 5 years.The oddsmakers predict a close contest with Geneseo favored by a slim 3 point margin. That's pretty much how I see it. Final score should be Geneseo 84  Oneonta 79. But I hope I'm wrong on this one.   


New Paltz State at  Brockport State     2:00 PM

The Hawks were grounded yesterday and they will get their wings clipped today for good measure. The Golden Eagles are faster and there are more of them. Brockport leads this series 8-2 over the last 5 years. The point spread is 20 and that may be too small. Brockport 88 New Paltz 64.   
   
Potsdam State  at  Buffalo State        2:00 PM

The Bears should hibernate until tomorrow. These Bengals will be in an unruly mood. The last time the Bears beat the Bengals was January 20th 2007. They have lost 16 straight games in this series. It will be 17 straight after today. Bengals back on Victory Row, as they win big, 94-69.


Cortland State at  Oswego State        2:00 PM

These Red Dragons and the Lakers kick off their conference season today in a rematch of the SUNYAC Championship game of last year. The Cortland squad got a game winner from James Morales at the buzzer to walk off Plattsburgh State's court a 77-74 winner, proving that you can beat a team 3 times in one year. It was just payback for the 3 times the Lakers won against Cortland in the 2013-14 season. These teams have played 20 times in the past 8 years and Oswego holds a 12-8 advantage. The oddsmakers have made the Lakers a slim 4 point favorite at home in Max Ziel  Gym. I see it slightly different and will pick the minor upset here as the Red Dragons win by an 84-74 final score
   
Plattsburgh State  at  Fredonia State        2:00 PM

The Cardinals need to be wary of a letdown here as Fredonia can play with anybody and if they get hot like St. Lawrence did the other night then a 1-1 western swing trip is possible. Beating the toughest of the two opponents on the first night of the road trip is good but the Cardinals had a tougher game than the Blue Devils did last night and they didn't have to make a 7 hour trip. Plattsburgh has won 8 in a row against the Blue Devils and  is 11-3 in the past 7 years. Fredonia is off to their best start in 4 years  and will come to play. The oddsmakers have the Cards as a 10 point favorite in this one. I thnk they win by more. Plattsburgh 87 Fredonia 70.   

   

[jdex]

Oswego with a late first half push topping Cortland 31-23. Neither side lighting it up --- Lakers 39fg percentage, Corts 21 percent. Oswego with 28-14 board edge -- 10 from Krecko. B. Sortino with 13 pts(5x10fg, 3x6 3s). Eight RDragons score, none more than J. Cooper, N. Bonura 5 apiece ........

[magicman]

Oswego leads Cortland at the half by a 31-23 score.

Bryan Sortino with 13 points and 4 rebounds to lead the way for the Lakers.
Jamir Ferebee with 8 points and Keith Tyson with 7.

Cortland led by Justin Cooper and Nick Bonura with 5 points each.

[magicman]

Plattsburgh leads Fredonia by a 37-29 margin at halftime.

Jon Patron with 14 points and 6 rebounds to lead the Cards.

Eric Mack close behind with 11 points and 4 boards off the bench. Zack Coleman next with 6 points.

Fredonia's Ian helps also with 14 points and 7 boards. Nicc Johnson is next with 6 points.

Cards led by as much as 14 before Blue Devils closed to within 8.

[magicman]

Brockport clobbering New Paltz 47-16 at the half.

Marcus Blythers with 13 points and 7 boards.
Cordell Torres and David Clark with 7 each.

New Paltz gets 8 points from James Saunders.

This one is over early as Coach Dunne has already has his entire lineup in the game.

[magicman]

Geneseo leading Oneonta early in the 2nd half by a 5546 score with 17 minutes to go in the game.

Mikey McElroy with 11 and Hack Kolosky with 10 for the Red Dragons.

John Decker with 15 points. Justin Ringen with 14 and Kevin Crockett with 13 for the Knights.

[magicman]

Buffalo State leads Potsdam 43-38 at the break.

Nico McLean with 11 and Mike Henry with 9 for the Bengals.

Jayquan Thomas with 13 for Potsdam. Danny Delsol-Lowry with 7 points and Dante Langley with 6.

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State 75  Fredonia State 57 final score.

[magicman]

Oneonta State gets a driving layup from Frankie Kelly with seconds left on the clock to beat Geneseo by a final score of 89-88.

Geneseo had time to get it just past half court but a desperation 40 footer was well off the mark. I watched a replay of Kelly's basket. It looked just like what he did to Plattsburgh State 2 years ago when he drove to the hoop on the final play of the game.

Congrats to Coach Conover for getting his first win in the SUNYAC as a head coach. I'm sure it will be the first on many more over the years.I'm also sure he won't forget this one!! 

[magicman]

Oswego State wins a tight one over Cortland State by a 61-57 final score.