MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[All-Time]

If Magicman's crystal ball is correct, my wish of Potsdam vs Oneonta will come true!!!
It's just happening in the Semi-Finals instead of the Championship.

Looks like the Final 4 will be Incredible.

Looking forward to the games.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The Week 3 men's regional rankings are out: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2020/02/men-regional-rankings-third

[magicman]

Cortland leads Oswego 37-30 at the half.

Jake DiSanto has the hot hand for the Red Dragons as he goes 4 for 5 from downtown and leads all scorers with 14 points. Brendan Fitzpatrick has 7 points and 6 assists. Austin Grunder with 6 points and 5 rebounds.

Jamal Achille leads the Lakers with 8 points and 5 rebounds. Joe Sullivan with 7 points and 4 rebounds.
Brandan Gartland with 6 points.

[magicman]

Oneonta 34 Geneseo 25 at halftime.

Kevin Mackin with 11 points to lead Oneonta as he drains 3 of 4 from deep.  Harrison Deegan has 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. He was 2x2 from long range.  Dylan Trombley with 8 points 2 rebounds and 2 assists. Also 2x3 from distance. Ian Schultz with 5 points and 7 rebounds.


Geneseo is led by Elijah Wingfield with 7 points and 2 rebounds.  Alex Merhige has 6 points, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks.

[magicman]

Oneonta defeats Geneseo 81-54

[magicman]

Oswego State defeats Cortland by a 74-67 final score.

[magicman]

Oneonta State 81  Geneseo State 54

I had Oneonta winning by a 78-57 final score so I was pretty close to the actual final.

The Red Dragons didn't waste any time getting a leg up as they jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead. The Knights chipped away at that lead and eventually got within a single possession, at 18-15, with 7:22 left in the first half. A Carson Jacobs layup, and a Harrison Deegan triple bumped the lead back to 8 points, as Oneonta coasted to a 9 point halftime advantage at 34-25.

The Knights were still down 9 when Alex Merhige hit a trey to close the gap to 40-34, with 15:33 left. That's when the Red Dragons went on a 14-2 run to break the game wide open. Suddenly it was 54-36 and it was no longer who would win, but how big the margin would be. The game was never close after that as the Red Dragons claimed the win.

Oneonta
Dylan Trombley captured scoring honors with 19 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and a block. He was 5x8 from long distance.
Ian Schultz had a double-double of 18 points and a game high 11 rebounds.
Harrison Deegan had 18 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and a block. He was 2x2 from deep.
Kevin Mackin had 16 points with 4 triples.
Andres Rivera had 8 rebounds, 6 points, 4 assists, 2 blocks and a steal.

Geneseo
Michael Gannon had 18 points and 5 rebounds.
Alex Merhige had 13 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks.
Terence Rogers had 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals.

#3 seed Oneonta improved to 19-7 overall and will meet #2 seed Potsdam on Friday evening at 5:30 in Brockport.

Geneseo finished the year with a 9-17 mark. They will return 4 starters for next year and should be contenders once again for a playoff spot.

[magicman]

Oswego State 74  Cortland State 67

I had the Lakers winning 76-72 so I wasn't far off from the final score. I said the key would be limiting the Cortland duo of Grunder and Edwards to the 29 points they scored, when Oswego beat Cortland, instead of the 50 points the duo scored, when Cortland won the rematch. The Lakers did even better, as they held the 2 big men for Cortland to just 20 points combined.

Oswego got a balanced scoring effort from their starting five, led by a big 2nd half from Liam Sanborn. They managed to turn a 7 point halftime deficit into a 7 point win, as they outscored Cortland 44-30 in the 2nd period. Sanborn had 22 of his game high 26 points in that stanza as he was 8x14 from the field including 4x7 from long distance.

Cortland scored the first basket of the 2nd half to extend their lead to 39-30, the largest of the game for either team. Sanborn then made his first triple to cut the deficit to 6 points. After Cortland scored inside he buried another triple, but Cortland's Ben Walters answered with a three pointer to keep the lead at 8 points, 44-36. Sanborn hit a third straight 3 pointer and after both teams came up empty Sanborn was fouled on a 3 point attempt. He made 2 of 3 from the line to bring the Lakers within 3 points at 44-41. On the Lakers next possession he hit a jumper to close the gap to a single point. Eric Edwards scored inside for Cortland to boost the lead back to 3 points, but Joe Sullivan hit a jumper for Oswego and after Cortland missed on their end, Brandan Gartland drained a threeball and the Lakers were in front 48-46 with 12 minutes left in the game. They never trailed again. Jeremiah Sparks nailed another three pointer after Cortland missed on their possession and Sanborn followed with another jumper to extend the lead to 53-46, the largest Laker lead of the night. Several times the Red Dragons narrowed the lead to a single possession, the last time at 59-56 with 7:24 left to play. Each time Oswego had an answer and after Cortland got within 5 points at 70-65,  Sanborn's jumper with a minute left was the clincher.

Oswego
Liam Sanborn led all scorers with 26 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Joe Sullivan had 14 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, a steal and a block.
Jeremiah Sparks had 12 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist and a block.
Brandan Gartland had 12 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
Jamal Achille had 10 points and 9 rebounds.

Cortland
Brendan Fitzpatrick led the team with 24 points, 7 assists, 2 rebounds and a steal.
Jake DiSanto had 14 points and 2 rebounds.
Austin Grunder had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Eric Edwards had 10 points and 7 rebounds.

The shooting percentages were fairly even in all 3 areas. Both teams had 9 assists and turnovers were close as Cortland had 9 and Oswego 10. Lakers had an edge in the rebounding battle with a 40 to 27 advantage.
Oswego relied heavily on their starting five as they got 188 of the 200 minutes and scored all the points.

The Lakers raise their overall record to 19-8 and will now face #1 seed Brockport on Friday night at 7:30 PM in Brockport.

Cortland ends their season with a 17-9 overall record. They bring back a lot of talent for next year and should be in the mix for the top spot in the conference.   
     

[thebear]

SUNYAC Final 4 at Brockport starts at 5:30 tomorrow.

Opener has Oneonta #3 seed vs. Potsdam #2 seed.  Teams split season series, Dragons won in December at Dewar Arena by a 62-60 margin on an Ian Schultz jumper with :04 left; in a game the Bears played without leading scorers Isaiah Brown and Jayquan Thomas.

Bears handled the Dragons at Jerry Welsh Gym last Friday by a 91-83 count, as Freshman center Tyrese Baptiste had a huge game with 28 points and 15 rebounds in 29 minutes, Brown added 27 in that tilt to counter 23 by Dragon senior guard Kevin Mackin. Bears extended to a 13 point second half lead and withstood several Dragon comebacks to prevail.

Nightcap has #4 seed Oswego visiting the East Region #1 Golden Eagles.  They have played two nail biters, 'port triumphed in December at Vlogianitis Gym  68-67 on a Jahidi Wallace FT with :08 left, and the Lakers took them to overtime last Saturday before dropping an 80-85 decision at Laker Hall, with Wallace again leading the way for the Eagles with 6 FT's in the extra session.

These 4 teams have played 4 games this season, total margin 16 points, should be a great evening of playoff basketball.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I wonder how the massive amount of snow expected around the Great Lakes could affect things ...

[magicman]

Feb. 28                           SUNYAC SEMIFINALS at Brockport State   


#3 Oneonta State  vs  #2 Potsdam State        5:30 PM

The rubber match between two closely matched teams. Each team won on their home court, but Potsdam was a different team the first time they met in Oneonta as they were missing their top two scorers. Oneonta was able to stay close to the Bears in Potsdam despite the new additions to their team and it was just a 2 possession game near the end of that one.

Three point shooting will be on display as the teams combined for 60 attempts from long distance in their last game. Bears will need to keep an eye on Kevin Mackin who is 20x41 from deep in his last three games. Potsdam's Isaiah Brown will counter Mackin as he's been 16x38 from behind the arc, over his last 4 games.

Potsdam, coming off a loss to last place New Paltz, where they allowed 100 points, will need a much better defensive effort to get by the Red Dragons. Oneonta will need to limit the touches Bears' big man, Tyrese Baptiste, gets in the paint. He torched them for 28 points and 15 boards last week.

The oddsmakers think this one is coming down to the wire and have made Oneonta a 1 point favorite. I also believe it will be a close game but have to go with the Bears. Potsdam 86 Oneonta 82.   
   


   
#4 Oswego State  at  #1 Brockport State        7:30 PM

Round three in this rivalry will probably give us another great matchup but it will be hard to beat the last two games these teams have played against each other. The December meeting resulted in a 1 point Brockport win that was only decided when Oswego's final shot got blocked at the buzzer. The game last week took an overtime period to decide, after Oswego hit a game tying 3 pointer, to force the extra session. Brockport won that one as well. Which bring us to that old axiom..."It's hard to beat a team 3 times in a season"....Or is it?

Bob Walsh, who used to coach Division III Rhode Island College in the Little East conference, went 12-1 when he had to play a school his team had already beaten twice. This is what he had to say..."So by my 4th or 5th year, when we had been in that situation a few times, I just gave my guys the numbers. I'd say two things.  1) It's not that hard if you are better than they are, and 2) We don't have to beat them 3 times this week. We only have to beat them once."  Sound advice from a very good coach

Speaking of very good coaches... we have four of the SUNYAC's best on display in the 2 games today.

Oswego has pulled off some upsets in the playoffs since Coach Leone took over the program and beating the top seed, today, is a strong possibility. The Lakers came from behind on Tuesday night to defeat Cortland, and they know they can win in Brockport as they sport a 6-4 record in their last 10 visits.

The Golden Eagles are peaking at the right time. They have won 15 games in a row which is the 5th longest, current, winning streak in all of Division III. They won most of those games without their leading scorer, Justin Summers, who has now returned to the lineup. His minutes have been limited but he's still been able to contirbute. The depth of Brockport has been their biggest plus and their defense never quits.

The oddsmakers have made Brockport an 8 point favorite in this one. I picked Brockport to win the regular season crown and they did, quite handily. I think they take care of business today as well. Brockport 77 Oswego 72.             

[magicman]

Potsdam 36 Oneonta 36 at the half.


Jayquan Thomas has 13 points to lead the Bears. Isaiah Brown has 10 points and 3 rebounds. Tyrese Baptiste working on another double-double has 7 points and 8 rebounds. Danny Delsol-Lowry with 6 points and 2 assists.

Harrison Deegan leads Oneonta with 11 points and 4 rebounds.  Kevin Mackin with 9 points and 3 rebounds. Balanced scoring from the Red Dragons as 8 players have scored so far.

Potsdam had the largest lead early on as they led 12-5 and 14-7. Oneonta came back to take their first lead at 20-19. That was followed by 3 more lead changes and 4 ties through the end of the period.

[magicman]

Potsdam 75 Oneonta 72  Final score.  Great game.

[magicman]

Brockport leads Oswego 38-23  at the break.

A closely contested game for the first 14 minutes of the half with 4 ties and 3 lead changes. Brockport was up 22-20 with 6:12 to play but opened up a 30-23 lead on back to back drives to the basket by Danny Ashley. Oswego came up empty and Monty Stroman scored on a layup to widen the lead. Seconds later the Lakers turned it over and Justin Summers scored inside. Oswego then had what appeared to be a wide open layup but Summers came out of nowhere to block the shot, which resulted in a fast break dunk by Jahidi Wallace. Oswego missed again on their possession and Wallace got another layin with 3 seconds left.

Brockport got 10 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds from Danny Ashley. Tyler Collins had 6 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Justin Summers had 6 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks.


Oswego gets 9 points from  Jamal Achille. Joe Sullivan had 5 points and 4 rebounds.

[magicman]

Brockport State 82  Owego State 67  Final score.



SUNYAC Championship  #2 Potsdam State  at #1 Brockport State Saturday at 4:00 PM