MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

Plattsburgh holds off stubborn Fredonia 64-58. Cards 32-31 at half

Stubborn Fredonia is right. With 2:30 left to play Cards were only up 57-55. A Carl Munnerlyn layup gave the Cards a 4 point lead 7 seconds later and the key play of the game was a steal by Errol Daniyan on Fredonia's next possession. As he is headed for an easy basket he is grabbed from behind by the jersey and official calls an intentional foul. Daniyan would miss both free throws but Cards get the rebound and 10 seconds later Daniyan makes a layup off a Munnerlyn feed to give Plattsburgh a 61-55 lead with 1:11 to go. Teams trade free throws and Fredonia misfires on next 2 field goal attempts. Cards miss 2 more foul shots with 21 seconds remaining and after a Fredonia miss, Cards get a breakaway basket to make it 64-56. Blue Devils get a final basket at the buzzer.

Plattsburgh was led by Chris Ruiz with 15 points (4x11 fg, 3x5 3's, 4x6 ft). Ruiz and Fredonia's Jonathan Herrera who also had 15 points(6x11 fg, 3x6 3.s) were the game's leading scorers. Carl Munnerlyn had 13 points(4x8 fg, 2x5 3's, 3x4 ft) and  Steve Thomas added 11 for the Cardinals .
Fredonia, in addition to Herrera, got 13 points from Brandon McKenny(5x12 fg, 3x5 ft), 12 points from Adam Smith(6x9 fg) and 11 points from Damien Goodwin(5x8 fg, 1x3 ft).  

Both teams shot ok from the field and from long range. Cards were 43.8% (21x48)  and 41.2% (7x17) from behind the arc. Fredonia was 46.3% (25x54) from the field and 31.3%% (5x16) from long distance. Missed free throws hurt both teams as Fredonia was only 3x9 while Plattsburgh was 15x26. Cards won the rebound battle 34-28 and turnovers were about equal as Fredonia had 14 to the Cards 15.  

Bengalsrule, that would be Maxcy Hall and yes it's one of the better places to play in the SUNYAC. I'll see you tommorow.    

[with age came?]

Great to be back guys.  Looks like there may have been "some heat" in Potsdam but it certainly wasn't from my Knights.  If they do not get their act together soon I'll have to take up the "Laker Mantle" on this board (as I see they won handily tonight).  Seems like Bengal's rule  must be happy he made the trip.  2 point wins are always fun!!  Say hello in person to the Magicman for me tomorrow!  However if Buff St only won by 2 over the bears I think they are in trouble against the cards!!

[magicman]

Five for Five with my picks Friday night and pretty close margins of victory in most of them.

Had Brockport winning by 9 and they won by 8.

Had Oswego winning by 13 and they won by 17.

Had New Paltz winning by 5. They were up 73-68 with a minute to go. They made 3 trips to the line and scored 5 more points in that final minute. Oneonta came up empty in their last 3 possessions, making the final 78-68.

Had Buffalo St winning by 7 and a meaningless 3 pointer at the buzzer cut it from 5 to 2.

Had Plattsburgh winning by 14. Cards were up 8 and missed 6 of 7 free throws in final 1:20.

Probably can't get lucky 2 nights in a row but here goes. All games tip off at 4 PM
Live stats are available for all 4 games I believe.

Oswego at Brockport  4 PM
Battle for 1st place as Brockport would gain a tiebreak edge if they can get a win here. Don't think they will though, as Lakers finish off a weekend sweep. Oswego takes this one 68-64.

Buffalo State at Plattsburgh
Both teams have been inconsistent, and neither team has played defense well all year. At least not the kind of defense you need to win the conference. I don't think defense will show up this afternoon either, but I sure hope that Plattsburgh's offense does. Of course I'm taking the Cards 87-83.

Cortland  at Geneseo  
Geneseo can't afford to lose a home game to the team it's tied with for last place in the conference. Blue Knights take advantage of a shortened Red Dragon bench and move up a rung 76-71.

Fredonia at Potsdam
Bears have been playing SUNYAC teams tough at home and have beaten better than the Blue Devils. They lose this one and they fall into 8th place. Fredonia hung with Plattsburgh yesterday and if they repeat that effort, could go home with a win. I'll choose the Bears to keep the Blue Devils winless on the road. 72-69        
 
   

[Bengalsrule]

Buffalo State at Plattsburgh
Both teams have been inconsistent, and neither team has played defense well all year. At least not the kind of defense you need to win the conference. I don't think defense will show up this afternoon either, but I sure hope that Plattsburgh's offense does. Of course I'm taking the Cards 87-83.
   

For once we agree magic (almost) Score of 87-83 is right  on...but you have the wrong winner!

[jdex]

Cortland finally puts together solid second half and trims host Geneseo 73-61. Down 33-32 at the half, Corts slowly take charge and up lead to 10 with 2:52 left. Clutch in the stretch. This team's learnin' on the fly for Span. Soph J. Smith completes big weekend with 20 pts(8x17fg). Fr J. Connolly 17 pts, 7 rebs; soph J. Winter 13 pts, 9 assts; soph H. Hefele 10 pts(4x7fg). Fr K. McMahon minutes limited. Dragons 25x52fg, 9x22 3s. Genes 21x57, 15x17ft and 43-26 board edge

Plattsburgh about ready to put away Buff St, whose Bengals in 13 point halftime hole

[jdex]

Ooops. Hang on, Magic ........Burg lead one at 1:42

[jdex]

WHEW!! Sure Magic will in the blanks .....but Plattsburgh wit gritty 78-76 victory over gritty Buffs who come from 12 back at 8:07 to lead 71-70 on J. Mitchell bucket. Cards S Thomas hits two free throws at 1:42 for reversal. C. Munnerley and C. Ruiz add ft's for the Burg. BS's J. Simmons nails trey at 0:19 to get within 76-75. Munnerley makes two charities at 0:08. Simmons fouled at 0:01 ....but just two shots. Hits one ....clock expires

[jdex]

Oswego 74, Brockport 71

Potsdam 78, Fredonia 69

[with age came?]

Congratulations to the Lakers and Coach Stockwell.  Wins in Brockport are always hard to come by especially with first place in the league riding.  A truly important and excellent early conference win.  Magic your percentage of correct guesses this weekend must have been amazing.  I can see only one miss (Cortland win) in all of your predictions (and that includes the LL).  Pretty soon they won't have to play the games - everyone will just let Magicman decide. hehheh

[magicman]

WHEW!! Sure Magic will in the blanks .....but Plattsburgh wit gritty 78-76 victory over gritty Buffs who come from 12 back at 8:07 to lead 71-70 on J. Mitchell bucket. Cards S Thomas hits two free throws at 1:42 for reversal. C. Munnerley and C. Ruiz add ft's for the Burg. BS's J. Simmons nails trey at 0:19 to get within 76-75. Munnerley makes two charities at 0:08. Simmons fouled at 0:01 ....but just two shots. Hits one ....clock expires

jdex,
Plattsburgh actually got 2 more points. After Carl Munnerlyn hit his 2 foul shots to give the Cards a 3 point 78-75 lead, Plattsburgh wasn't about to let Jake Simmons take another off balance rainbow 3 and tie it up. The Cards fouled him and he went to the line with the strategy to make the 1st and miss the 2nd and hope for a putback. That all changed when he missed the 1st attempt. He makes the 2nd free throw and the Bengals foul Munnerlyn on the inbounds pass with 2 tenths of a second left. Carl makes both of them, to make the final score 80-76. Those were 2 important  points as I had forecast a 4 point Cardinal win.    

[jdex]

Yikes!! We kinda assumed when Live Stats clock read 0:00 that we had a final .........now we now the rest of the story ........until Magic fills in the blanks, and how he held off that closing tick to cover his bets. Amazing!! Yikes!! Talk about clout.

[jdex]

Oswego win nearly as exhausting. Brockport at half trails 37-31 and goes down by 13 before rally. Bport leads 69-68 on G. Green layup/ft at 1:39. OSt's H. Ward ft pair at 1:21 provides Laker lead. It's Port 71-70 on D. Klein hoop at 0:31. OSt's C. Gilkes connects on two freebies for 72-71 edge at 0:09 followed by Port turnover and two Laker C. Burridge ft's. Pair of Eagle 3-point bids fail. Green with 25 pts(11x18fg); G. Williams 23 pts, 15 over final half. Oswego's Burridge 25 pts(8x16fg) in 32'; H. Ward 19 pts, 16 rebs, 4pf in 27'. Lakers 23x32ft to Port's 11x14

Potsdam rules by 40-27 at midway mark and hikes margin to 19. Fredonia closes to five, fades and gets back to six with 90 ticks to go. Bears' J. McAllister money at the line from there. Goes 9x10ft for the game. A. Williams 16 pts, 7 rebs, 4 assts; R. Duquette 15 pts; C. Pierce 9 rebs, 8 pts. Freds A. Smith nets 30 pts(14x18fg) in 27'

[Bengalsrule]

Yikes!! We kinda assumed when Live Stats clock read 0:00 that we had a final .........now we now the rest of the story ........until Magic fills in the blanks, and how he held off that closing tick to cover his bets. Amazing!! Yikes!! Talk about clout.

I witnesssed Magicmans clout first hand. Congrats on the victory. Bengals showed some "True Grit" battling back several times from seemingly insurmountable deficits ( i.e down 14 with less than 9 mins  in the game). 28 % from the field was our achilles heel. I'm gonna have to wait till Feb 18th for the rubbermatch!.
Highlight of today was finally meeting the magicman!!!.

[magicman]

Once again the Bengals and Cardinals didn't disappoint the fans at Memorial Hall this afternoon as they battled right to the end. The early part of the 1st half saw several lead changes and numerous ties until the Cardinals broke loose from a 16-16 tie with an 18-2 run to give them a 34-18 advantage with 5 minutes left in the half. Starter Chris Ruiz, along with reserves Carl Munnerlyn and Josh Bruno all scored 5 points each during that run. With 3 starters in early foul trouble the Plattsburgh bench would prove to be a huge factor in the outcome of the game. Three of Plattsburgh's freshman forwards had major contributions in the 1st period as John Perez had 3 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal in 11 minutes. Shavar Fields managed to score 4 points and played solid defense in 9 minutes, while frosh Reggie Williams scored 4 points, grabbed 3 boards and had 3 blocked shots in 7 minutes on the floor. Considering that the Cardinals 2 starting forwards played a combined 13 minutes and starting guard Steve Thomas only saw 7 minutes of action, for the Cardinals to have any lead much less a 16 point lead was more than could be expected. Bengals came back a bit to cut the lead to 10 but a Perez putback followed by a Bengal turnover (offensive foul) and Bengal technical foul built the lead back to 15 before a Seth Runge bucket cut it to 43-30 going into the break. Ruiz with 11 1st half points and Bruno with 8 led the Cards. Bengals'  Justin Mitchell almost had a double-double in the 1st half with 10 points and 9 boards while Jake Simmons added 7 poiints.

The largest lead of the 2nd half occured 40 seconds into the period as Ketema Brooks scored for the Cards to make it 45-30. Buffalo State then outscores the Cardinals 13-2 as Glenroy Carr scores 7 and Mitchell 4 points to narrow the deficit to 47-43. Plattsburgh's bench comes through again scoring the Cardinals next 16 points, as they regain a double digit lead at 63-49 with 8:28 remainiing. Frosh Shavar Fields was the catalyst with 8 of those points. Jake Simmons and Mitchell would lead the Bengals back however as they scored 13 points in a little over 3 minutes to cut the lead to 1 at 65-64 with 5:07 left to play. Yet again, Munnerlyn comes through for Plattsburgh, as he drains a 3, and then makes 2 free throws to make it 70-66 Cards. 5 unanswered points by the Bengals, the last a layup by Mitchell at the 2:01 mark, gives Buff State a 71-70 edge, for their 1st lead since the game was only 3 minutes old. The lead was short lived though as Cards' Thomas is fouled on the way to the basket and makes both free throws to put Plattsburgh up by 1. Key possession of the game comes with 1:27 left as the  Bengals miss a field goal attempt which results in a foul sending Cards' Munnerlyn to the line. He calmly sinks both to increase Cards lead to 3 and after Bengals only make 1 of 2 on their trip to the line, they foul Chris Ruiz with 26 seconds to play. Ruiz hits them both to give Cards what appears to be a safe 4 point lead, but Jake Simmons with a pair of Plattsburgh defenders on him drains one from long distance to cut it to 1 with 9 ticks left and set up the games final sequences. Munnerlyn is fouled on the inbound pass, hits both of those and the Cards with a 3 point lead foul Jake to prevent the attempt to tie it up. Simmons hits 1 of 2 and Bengals foul Munnerlyn 1 last time. He hits them both to make the final 80-76.

Of the last 33 points Plattsburgh scored, 29 of them came from bench players and 18 of those were scored by Carl Munnerlyn. Carl ended up as the games leading scorer with 23 points(5x12 fg, 3x10 3's) in 29 minutes and was perfect from the line going 10 for 10 with 6 of those in the last 90 seconds. Chris Ruiz scored 13 points(4x14 fg' 1x4, 3's 4x4 ft) in 29 minutes, while Josh Bruno was a perfect 4x4 from the field, and 2x2 from long distance  to total 10 points in 16 minutes. Shavar Fields had a Plattsburgh State career high with 12 points(5x6 fg, 2x3 ft) in 18 minutes. Ketema Brooks added 4 points 6 rebounds and 4 assists while running the point for 35 minutes. On a night when 3 of  Plattsburgh's starters who average 81 minutes combined only played 46 minutes combined, the Cardinal bench chose a great time to shine. Led by Munnerlyn, Fields, and Bruno the bench totaled 53 of the Cardinals 80 points and 14 of their 35 individual rebounds. Cards shot 26x57(45.6%) from the field, 6x17(35'3%) from long range and 22x28(78.6%) from the foul line. They were out rebounded by the Bengals 44-40 and had 21 turnovers to 14 for Buffalo State.

Bengals had three players in double figures led by Justin Mitchell's double-double of 22 points(8x15 fg, 6x6 ft) and 16 rebounds in 36 minutes. Jake Simmons, last year's Rookie of the Year in the YAC, also had 22 points(9x23 fg, 2x10 3's, 2x4 ft), along with 4 rebounds and 3 steals also in 36 minutes. Glenroy Carr added 15 points(4x10 fg, 7x9 ft). Chris Cartwright had a solid all around game with 2 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and a block. Bengals had an off night shooting the rock as they were only 27-74(36'5%) from the field and a woeful 2x16(12.5%) from beyond the arc. They did manage to shoot 80% from the foul line as they were 20 for 25.

Platttsburgh is now off until next weekend when they travel south to take on Oneonta and then New Paltz. Cards are now 6-2 in the conference, 10-5 overall, are in sole possession of 2nd place and remain 1 game behind Oswego.

Buffalo State falls to 4-4 in the SUNYAC and tied for 5th place with Potsdam and Oneonta. Bengals are 9-5 overall and wiil host Brockport on Tuesday the 25th. A win would move them into 4th place and that all important home court advantage for the 1st round of the playoffs.    
     
         


       

[magicman]

Sorry my Plattsburgh-Buffalo synopsis was posted so late. I wrote it up and hit the post button around 8 PM but it didn't register and I never realized it until I went back to the computer in the wee hours.

It was indeed a pleasure to meet Bengalsrule. It's nice to be able to put a face to a name. I only wish we had more time to chat but I'm hoping for a return visit if and when the Cards host the SUNYAC playoffs. I also didn't make the Jr.-Sr. connection until later when I returned home. That's a discussion that could last a while.

Bengalsrule, I do have 1 very big request though and I'm sure you can pull it off. Next Friday when you play a certain 1st place team in their house make sure they know what payback is like. Even if they lose to New Paltz on Tuesday (a distinct possibility) they will still be in 1st place when you take them on. Good luck and hope you end up in 2nd place in the SUNYAC race.