MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[AUPepBand]

Had all my picks made and typed with my usual banter. Hit post and my computer wouldn't bring up the page. The old... this page not responding message.  Lost my entire post. Too busy to do it again.

Oswego wins 78-73 over SLU

Geneseo wins 83-75 over Fredonia

Buffalo State wins 87-81 over Brockport

Steveson wins  75-70 over New Paltz.

Don't you just hate when that happens? It was likely your most brilliant post, too! I've done the same thing with my potentially Pulitzer Prize-winning Posts!

Saxons drop second straight heartbreaker, 62-61 at Utica. Grrrrrrr!

[Bengalsrule]

Tough loss last night for my BENGALS.  I had to miss the game too which made it doubly rough ( Buff State broadcast was visually horrible, and I even tried to by the $5.00 "ticket" for high def quality).  But that didn't work either!  Not sure if a 1 pt loss, like last night, hurts more / less than a blowout! It does suck nonetheless!

Can't mope around too much. Geneseo is coming to town Friday and we all know what the SUNYACs most explosive team can do when the get hot!

Go BENGALS!!!

[Bengalsrule]

Wow. SUNYAC season is already 1/3rd over and the race is as tight as ever. 3 teams with 1 loss. 3 teams with 4 losses.  And 2 teams with 2 losses.  Anyone of these 8 could finish #1 seed by Feb 18th. I'm glad that the Yac non conference record was very good because beating up on each other for the next 5 weeks is gonna damage someone's chances to get invited to the dance.  I still believe that at least 3 teams will make it to NCAAs this year.  Sure praying hard for 1 of them!

Go BENGALS

[magicman]

Jan. 13     4 games on tap today that are all SUNYAC conference games. All of them tip off at 5:30 PM   


Geneseo State  at  Buffalo State        5:30 PM Featured Game of the Day

Geneseo on a 6 game winning streak and in a tie for first place in the YAC with Oswego and Brockport, all at 5-1.  The Bengals with a little luck could be right up there as well except for a 1 point loss to Oswego and on Tuesday another 1 point loss to Brockport. Tonight they could have another 1 point loss to the 3rd member of the triumvirate at the top. The oddsmakers have favored the Bengals by a single point and I'd like to see the Bengals win and tighten up the top of the standings but the R&D department of Geneseo (Ringen and Decker) will be hard to stop. I think Geneseo wins by an 87-83 final score. 

   
Cortland State  at  Potsdam State    5:30 PM

It's the on again...off again Red Dragons. And tonight they're in the on again mode. Potsdam looking for their initial conference win won't get it today. The point spread has Cortland favored by 14 but I think they win by a few more. Cortland 89 Potsdam 70.


Brockport State  at  Fredonia State    5:30 PM

The Golden Eagles started out 6-0 but have struggled to a 4-3 mark over their last seven games. And two of those 3 losses were blowouts. Hopefully they got their mind right with the win over Buff State on Tuesday. They take on the Bengals again tomorrow but they better not look ahead to that matchup. The team at hand, the Blue Devils, beat Brockport last year in overtime and they return most of those players to try and do it again. Fredonia lost to Geneseo on Tuesday but a weekend sweep up north put them in a tie for the final playoff spot. The point spread favors the Golden Eagles by a 6 point margin. I think they win by more than that. Brockport 82 Fredonia 71.


Oswego State  at  Plattsburgh State     5:30 PM

Always a battle when these two teams meet. They have played 12 times in the past 5 years and the record is 6-6. The Cardinals are looking for some revenge as the Lakers have beaten Plattsburgh in the YAC playoffs the last two years, both times in Plattsburgh. So home court means nothing in this series. The Cardinals have defeated Oswego in 3 of the past 4 years on the Lakers home court.

Oswego, tied for first place in the YAC, had their 4 game winning streak broken on Tuesday night against St. Lawrence. With a little luck and a win tonight they could be all alone at the top by the end of the day. The Cardinals haven't played up to their capabilities and are currently in the midst of their longest losing streak in 5 years. They have lost five in a row and four straight conference games in Memorial Hall. They have their backs to the wall and if they hope to get back into the conference race, they will need a pair of wins this weekend. They also face the uneasy fact that their final five conference games are all on the road. The oddsmakers have made Plattsburgh a slim 2 point favorite in this one. I'm going with the Cardinals to pull this one out and gain a measure of revenge over the Lakers. Plattsburgh 84 Oswego 79.           

[All-Time]

4 Games on tap tonight in the SUNYAC.
2 tough match-ups.

Geneseo at Buffalo State.
Will Geneseo continues their winning ways tonight in Buffalo.
The Bengals have had some very tough luck lately.
I Love the buffalo state arena, but a tough place to shoot the 3.
Ringen and Decker are coming off a tough shooting game against Fredonia.
I think it's more of the same tonight in buffalo.
I have Buffalo State winning this one by double digits.

The other tough game on Tap tonight is Oswego at the Magicman's Memorial Hall.
Like the Magicman said Oswego has beaten Plattsburgh the last 2 years in the SUNYAC Tournament at Memorial Hall.
I know the Magicman will have his Magic Wand along with some Magic potion in the Plattsburgh's Gatorade tub tonight.
I think the Cardinals pull this one out in a very high scoring affair.

Cortland all over Potsdam and Brockport all over Fredonia.

Enjoy the games

[magicman]

Oswego State 83 Plattsburgh State 82

Another exciting game between these teams that went right down to the wire. Oswego went in front after some early back and forth play with an 11-0 run that gave them a 16-9 lead. The last 6 points of that run came from back to back 3 pointers by Ian Schupp and Brian Sortino. The Lakers would slowly extend the margin to a double digit lead at 25-15, then got another 3 pointer from Sortino and a pair from Schupp to grab their largest lead of the game at 36-20 with 6:47 left in the half. A 12-3 burst brought the Cardinals closer and narrowed the gap to 39-34, with 3:19 to play. Eli Bryant had 5 of those points and Brandon Johnson had 4.  The Lakers put the brakes on the Plattsburgh comeback by scoring the next 5 points, to once again go up by double digits. The Cardinals weren't done however, and  would come all the way back as they scored the final 10 points of the period. The teams went into the break deadlocked at 44.

The second half seemed like deja vu all over again as Sortino opened with a 3 pointer and scored on a drive to the hoop. Schupp followed with a jumper and then Jamir Ferebee did likewise. After the Cards missed on their end, Ferebee came down and buried a 3 pointer and was fouled on the play. He made the free throw and the Lakers had once again built a double digit lead at 57-46 with 16:07 remaining in the period.  Plattsburgh regrouped again and got 5 straight points from Brandon Johnson on a jumper and a 3 point play. Ian Howard followed with a pair of layups and then Eric Mack got 3 straight baskets on a jumper and two quick moves to the rim. The Cardinals were only down 3, at 64-61, and a pair of free throws from Jon Patron, followed by a layup from Adam Jaquish, gave the Cardinals their first lead since the the game was only 4 minutes old. The lead was a short one, though, as Ian Schupp did what Ian Schupp does...buried another 3 pointer (his fourth) to put the Lakers back in front.  Ferebee followed with his third 3 pointer after the Cardinals missed 4 opportunities to tie or take the lead, including several missed free throws. The final 6 minutes featured two teams slugging it out as the Lakers led by Sortino and Keith Tyson managed to stay in front of the Cardinals led by Mack and Ian Howard. Oswego's final 13 points were all scored by Sortino (9) or Tyson (4). Plattsburgh's final 17 points were scored by Mack (8), Howard (6) and a 3 pointer by Eli Bryant that set the stage for the final possessions.

After a Sortino free throw made the score 81-77 with 32 seconds to go the Lakers took a time out. Plattsburgh set up a play for Mack that had Bryant bringing up the ball and as he approached the 3 point arc sent an alley-oop pass that was grabbed and jammed by Mack to cut the margin to one possession. With 21 seconds left Sortino was fouled once again and he made both free throws to build the lead back to 4 points. Plattsburgh rushed the ball to their end and Bryant connected on a 3 pointer from the corner to cut the lead to a single point,83-82, with 16 ticks on the clock. After a Plattsburgh time out the Cardinals attemped to steal the inbounds pass and when that failed they fouled. The Lakers were not in the double bonus and when they missed the front end of the 1&1 the Cardinals got the rebound and had one last chance. They called a time out. Then the Lakers called a time out. The Cards brought it up and a decent attempt at a three pointer was off the mark. Plattsburgh fouled with 2 tenths of a second left. The Lakers missed the free throw and a full court heave by the Cards wasn't close. The Lakers had claimed their 4th straight victory on Plattsburgh's homecourt.

Attendance was only listed at 160 because the college is not in session but the 160 fans that showed up got treated to a great game. They saw the best of Division III basketball Friday night with two teams that are rivals, that have consistently made the NCAA tournament over the past decade. They witnessed some great shooting, some outstanding drives to the basket, some thrilling comebacks, and players on both teams taking control of the game for their team. It's too bad that someone has to lose these games. It's really, really, too bad when it's my Cardinals.

Two final thoughts. Laker Brian Sortino made a huge mistake when he decided to go to Oswego. He should have went to Plattsburgh. In his last 4 games at the Cards' Memorial Hall he's scored 109 points and dished out 24 assists. You've heard of "Horses for Courses" well Plattsburgh would have been his Belmont Park. Only God knows how many points he would have scored in a Cardinal uniform, but I guarantee it would have been more than he'll score as a Laker.      

The Cardinals' high flying Eric Mack gets to the rim quicker than anybody in the SUNYAC and his moves were on display all night long on both ends of the floor. He ended up with 7 blocks on the night and actually had at least 9. The men blowing the whistles incorrectly called him for a foul on one block and goaltending on another. For a guy that's only 6'3" tall I'll take his vertical leap over anybody in all of Division III. I've seen at least 180 teams in DIII play a game, including most of the good ones, and I've yet to see anyone jump like Eric.

The Lakers
Brian Sortino had a double-double as he captured scoring honors with 25 points and had a game high 12 assists. When he wasn't driving and scoring he was dishing to an open teammate for a number of easy baskets. It was the last time I'll see him play in person. Part of me says good, no more Sortino to worry about, but I'll miss his game just the same. He was a pleasure to watch during his career. Hope Coach Leone gave him my message. I tried to see him after the game but the team was already on the bus. I thought they were hanging around to watch the women's game but the teams had separate buses.

Jamir Ferebee had 19 points and hit some big 3 pointers for the Lakers. He was 3 of 4 from downtown.

Ian Schupp had 16 points and also hurt the Cardinals with his long distance shots as he made 4 of 7.

Mykelle Krecko led the team with 12 rebounds, which tied for the game high. He added 6 points, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. Got a chance to visit with the big guy in his last visit to Memorial Hall. He's another one that got away after spending his first 2 years in Plattsburgh playing for the local junior college. I hoped he would transfer to Plattsburgh. A 6'10" guy would have fit right in the Cardinal lineup...or just about anyone's!

Keith Tyson had 8 points, 4 boards, a block and a steal.


The Cardinals
Eric Mack led Plattsburgh with 21 points off the bench. He had 8 rebounds, 7 blocks, 3 assists and a steal. His 7 blocks just missed tying a team record of 8 blocks set back in 2005 by Jelani Simmons. If we had a different crew reffing the game (a crew who actually knew the rules) Eric would have been credited with 9 blocks and set a new record.

Ian Howard had a career high 20 points and completed a double-double with a game high 12 rebounds. 7 of those rebounds came on the offensive end. He was 9 of 11 from the field. He also added a block and a steal.

Brandon Johnson had 13 points, 7 assists (a new career high), 2 rebounds and a steal in 29 minutes off the bench.

Eli Bryant added 10 points, 2 steals and 2 assists.

Chris Middleton had 7 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds.

The Lakers were 31x63 from the field (49.2%). The Cardinals were 31x61 (50.8%).  The long ball was a difference maker as Oswego made 12x25 (48%) from behind the arc while the Cardinals were just 4x17 (23.5%). The Lakers were only 9x18 (50%) from the line and while the Cardinals had a slightly better percentage of 57.1%, they were only 16x28 from the line which included just 3 of 10 in the 2nd half. If they shoot 50% from the line in the 2nd half they win the game.

The teams both ended up with 36 rebounds, Plattsburgh had a season low 7 turnovers and the Lakers only had 10. The Cardinals had 20 assisted baskets, the Lakers had 17.

Oswego improves to 10-4 overall and 6-1 in the YAC. They went from a 3 way tie for first place to a 2 way tie as Brockport won and Geneseo lost on Friday night. Oswego will travel to Potsdam to face the Bears later today at 2:00 PM.

Plattsburgh falls to 6-7 overall and 2-5 in the conference. They are now in 8th place and will have to climb over a few bodies to make the playoffs. They will host Cortland later today in a 2:00 PM tipoff.           



     

                 

[magicman]

Buffalo State 110 Geneseo State 104

A track meet in the Queen City and it looks like Mike Henry played the part of Usain Bolt with his career high 42 points.That's a gold medal performance for sure. He also had 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and a block. I would like to know why in hell he passed the ball 3 times to get those 3 assists. I figure if you're shooting 15x18 from the field and 4x4 from downtown you probably cost your team some points by passing 3 times for 6 points instead of taking 3 more 3 pointers and getting 9 points.

Had I known Henry was going to go off for 42 points and the Bengals would tie a team record for 3 pointers I would have picked them to win this game.

Did somebody dress Jake Simmons up in a Dom Grayer disguise? I know it wasn't Kevin Marmolejos because he's too tall. I'm guessing the 27 points is a career high for Grayer as well. He added 5 rebounds and 1 assist.

J.O.Spence also had a career high of 18 points in 22 minutes off the bench. He had 4 rebounds and 1 assist.

Nico McLean with 10 points,8 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

Lovell Smith with 9 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.


Geneseo's R&D show was pretty good as well as Justin Ringer scored 27 points, with 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

Kevin Crockett had 21 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

John Decker had "just" 19 points, 4 assists and a rebound.

Jack Eisenberg and 18 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds.

Buffalo State was tied with the Knights at 39 apiece, but the Bengals put together an 11-4 run at the end of the first half to go up 50-43 at the break. The Knights got it to a single possession early in the 2nd half at 52-49 after a Kevin Crockett 3 pointer. The Bengals responded with four 3 pointers, two by Henry and 2 by Grayer. Quickly the lead was back to 11 and the Knights could never get it back to a single possession again. They closed it down to 102-98 on a Decker layup with 1:42 left to play but the Bengals hit 8 of 12 free throws to put the Knights away.

Buffalo State improves to 10-4 overall and 4-4 in the YAC. They will travel over to Brockport for a rematch with the Golden Eagles at 5:30 PM today.

Geneseo falls to 10-4 and 5-2 in the YAC. They will host Fredonia at 2:00 PM today.

One final note. I learned after I had posted my predictions that the grandmother of one of the Bengal players  passed away on Friday. I almost went back and changed my prediction because I knew the Bengals would want to win one for her. I also knew she was up in heaven with all her new angel buddies looking down and sending lots of good karma to the Bengals. The Bengals certainly played like they wanted to win one for her with career highs all over the place. And all those 3 pointers that went in to tie a program record...I think someone up above was guiding those shots, just a bit. My condolences and prayers to the player and his family.   

[magicman]

Cortland State 82  Potsdam State 56

The Bears tried to make a game of it but could only do so for about the first 11 minutes. The Red Dragons were only up by a 16-14 score when they went on 10-2 run and opened up a double figure lead at 26-16. Cortland continued to build that lead until it reached a high of 18 points at 48-30. The Bears got a bucket to cut the lead to 16 points at the break. The second half was more of the same as the lead briefly dropped to 14 points but quickly ballooned into the 20's. It reached a high of 30 points as the Red Dragons got everyone into the game.

Zach Lydon led Cortland with 15 points. Justin Cooper had 13 and Carrell Joseph had 12. Justin Prendergast had 8 points and led the team with 7 rebounds.

Jayquan Thomas had 17 points and 8 rebounds for the Bears.  Nosa Onabor had a game high 9 rebounds.

Cortland ups their record to 10-4 overall and 5-2 in the conference. They head over to Plattsburgh to face the Cardinals at 2:00 PM today.

Potsdam drops to 1-12 overall and 0-7 in the YAC.  They will host Oswego State at 2:00 PM today.   

[All-Time]

5 games on tap today in the SUNYAC

Geneseo easily over Fredonia. The 3 ball will be back in action today for the Knights at their friendly shooting gym.

Plattsburgh over Cortland, Is Jon Patron coming off an injury? He needs to get going again if Plattsburgh has any chance of making the playoffs.

Oswego beating up Potsdam. The Brian Sortino show continues to produce winning basketball for the Lakers.

Oneonta doing the same to New Platz. Look for the big 3, McElroy, Coleman and Kelly to have their way with New Paltz at home.

The game of the day:
Buffalo State over Brockport in a track meet.
This should be a very high scoring affair as both teams are incredibly athletic.

Enjoy the games

[magicman]

Brockport State 88 Fredonia State 59

I could just cut and paste what I said about the Potsdam-Cortland game and it would describe what took place in this game as well.

Brockport didn't let Fredonia hang around for 11 minutes as the Golden Eagles had a double digit lead with 11:34 left in the first period. Up 24-13 Brockport broke it wide open with a 17-6 run to end the half and take a 50-33 lead at the break. The closest the Blue Devils got after that was 14 points once, early in the 2nd stanza
The Eagles gradually increased the lead until it reached a maximum of 29 at the final buzzer.

Brockport's usual suspects, Clifton Lyerly and Hamed Shamseldin, had 16 and 15 points respectively to lead the way.

Matthew Smith had the best stat line of the contest with 11 points, a game high 7 rebounds, another game high of 5 assists and a pair of steals.

Devonn Gavin had 10 points, 5 steals and 2 rebounds.

Brandon Hodge had 9 points to lead the Blue Devils. Richard De La Cruz and Justin Tapper had 8 points each and De La Cruz led the team with 7 rebounds. Tapper had 4 boards.

Dante Williams also had 7 rebounds, 6 points 2 steals and 1 assist.

Brockport improves to 11-3 overall and 6-1 in the conference to hang onto their share of first place. The Bengals will arrive later today for their 2:00 PM rematch of Tuesday's game.

Fredonia drops to 6-9 overall and 3-5 in the standings. They are now in sole possession of 7th place and will face Geneseo at 2:00 PM today, also a rematch of Tuesday's game, won by the Knights in overtime.     

[magicman]

Jan. 14    All ten teams in action today as conference play continues.   

Fredonia State at     Geneseo State     2:00 PM

Geneseo will look to return to the victory column after the Bengals snapped their 6 game winning streak. Fredonia wants to avenge the overtime loss they had on Tuesday to the Knights. The oddsmakers say it won't happen as they've made the Knights a 15 point favorite. Geneseo won't be overlooking the Blue Devils today  and they should win by double digits. 84-67 seems about right.

      
Oswego State  at  Potsdam State        2:00 PM

Another one sided affair unless the Lakers suffer a letdown. Three years go Potsdam went 5-20. One of those 5 wins was over Oswego in Potsdam by a 68-66 final score. So you never know when a team pulls off the big surprise. The point spread favors the Lakers by 16 points. Potsdam will have problems matching up with Brian Sortino outside and Mykelle Krecko inside. The Bears may surprise and beat the spread but they won't beat the Lakers, who with a little luck may be in first place all by themselves, after tonight. Oswego 81 Potsdam 66. 

   
Buffalo State  at  Brockport State      5:30 PM  Featured Game of the Day...Again.

The Bengals are coming off a hard fought win over Geneseo. Brockport had an easy game with Fredonia last night and the Eagle starters spent a lot less time on the court than Buff State's. Brockport has always been a tough contest for the Bengals also, as the Eagles have won 11 of the last 13 games between the teams. But those two wins have occurred each of the last two years in Brockport. The oddsmakers have made the Bengals a slim 1 point favorite in this one. Brockport has played 14 games and I don't think there's a team in the country that has played less home games than the Golden Eagles. Tonight will mark only the 5th game all season where they've been at home. They have yet to lose one in Tuttle North Gym. It's hard not to pick them in this game...so I'm taking Brockport to win another close one by an 88-85 final score.     

   
New Paltz State  at  Oneonta State     2:00 PM

Both teams were off last night as these travel partners hit the hardwood for their 2nd matchup of the season. New Paltz continues to search for that opening win in the YAC and will probably have to wait a little longer as the Red Dragons are favored by 22 points. I can't see the Hawks keeping this one close and Oneonta wins by a 94-70 final. 

Cortland State  at  Plattsburgh State     2:00 PM

The Cardinals' woes continue to mount as their losing streak of 6 games has reached epic proportions, for a Plattsburgh State team under the direction of Coach Tom Curle.  A loss today would equal the longest losing streak of the Curle era and you would have to go back 8 years to the 2008-09 season to find that 7 game losing streak on his record. The Cardinals had never lost 5 games in a row, at home, under Curle, until now, and for those 5 games to all be SUNYAC contests adds further insult to injury. The other loss in the current losing streak was a blowout loss at Trinity back on January 2nd. The last time the Cardinals tasted victory was well over a month ago when they defeated Skidmore  in Memorial Hall back on December 6th. The Trinity loss was the only game in that streak where the Cardinals weren't competitive. Every one of the other five games they had their chances to pull out a win. Now the Cortland Red Dragons come to town and Plattsburgh  is running out of chances to get back into the conference playoff race.

Cortland brings a 5-2 YAC record with them (10-4 overall) and a win today, coupled with a lot of luck, could find them tied for the lead in the standings. The oddsmakers, despite Plattsburgh's recent record, have made the home team a slim 1 point favorite. The Cardinals have won 5 of the last 6 games against the Red Dragons, including a pair last year when Cortland managed to win the conference tournament. I still have faith that the Cardinals can turn things around and compete for a playoff spot. There's no time like today to start that turnaround. Cortland comes into the game well rested despite their road trip, as they had an easy time of it yesterday in Potsdam and their starters all got limited minutes. Plattsburgh was all out against Oswego but I have confidence that the guys will finally get a few breaks and expect the Cardinals to end their tailspin. Plattsburgh wins this one 92-85.                    

[magicman]

Final scores of today's games.

Fredonia State  68   Geneseo State  62

Oswego State 86  Potsdam State 76

Cortland State  83  Plattsburgh State 56

Oneonta State  100 New Paltz 87

[magicman]

Brockport State leads Buffalo State by a 48-32 score at the half.

[Bengalsrule]

If I never set foot in Brockport gymnasium again, I will be a happy man!  Beat Geneseo Friday and lose to B Port today. Weekend is awash!  Sucks but I guess that's life in the east regions toughest conference!!

Go BENGALS!!!

[All-Time]

2 games on tap tonight in the SUNYAC

Oneonta all over Cortland at Dewar Arena. Look for the BIG 3 of McElroy, Coleman and Kelly to come up big again against their rivals.

Oswego all over New Paltz, look for Ian Schupp to have a big night, as he grew up not too far from New Paltz.

Enjoy the games.

I hope the Magicman is OK, things in Cardinal land haven't been this bad in a long time. I bet he is concocting a new magic potion for the Cardinals Gatorade tub this weekend.