MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

All 10 SUNYAC teams in action today as conference play begins:

New Paltz State at  Plattsburgh State   5:30 PM
The Cardinals are coming off 5 straight games on the road to open the season. They will be raring to go in the friendly confines of Memorial Hall. The Hawks are coming off  their initial win of the year after dropping their first 4 games. The point spread favors the home team in this matchup of feathered friends and it's by a big 21 point margin. Opening conference games tend to be a bit closer so I'll go with the Cardinals to win this one by an 85-68 margin. I did say a bit closer.
      
Buffalo State  at     Cortland State        5:30 PM
This is a tough game to predict and is the featured game of the day in conference play. Bengals hurt by their lack of playing time due to the snowstorm of the year while the Red Dragons have gotten off to a good start right out of the gate. Cortland has won 4 of the past 5 meetings but in the last 8 years the teams have went 7-7 with most wins coming on their home courts. The oddsmakers favor the Red Dragons by 7 points tonightbut I think the Bengals keep it closer than that. This one could go to overtime but ultimately I think that Cortland will hold serve here and come away with a 76-73 win. 

Fredonia State  at  Oswego State        5:30 PM
Lakers will have too much firepower for the Blue Devils. A big point spread on this game as well with the home team favored by 15. Laker win by a 70-58 margin.
   
Oneonta State  at  Potsdam State        5:30 PM
These Red Dragon look to get back on the winning track after dropping 3 in a row. Potsdam will probably be just what the doctor ordered. Bears are the home dogs here but only by 5 points. If Oneonta can beat Williams in Williamstown by 6 points I think they'll win this game by a larger margin Oneonta 76 Potsdam 66.


Geneseo  vs  St. John Fisher    at RIT      8:00 PM
Wendy's College Cassic SemiFinals
This should be an excellent game between one of the better big men in the E8 conference and the best big man in the SUNYAC conference Oddsmakers have made Geneseo a slight 4 point favorite on the neutral court location. Both teams have puzzling losses that indicate something is amiss. I think that Gordon Lyons will school the younger Keegan Ryan a bit tonight and the Knights walk away with a 75-70 victory and a chance to win the Wendy's College Classic on Saturday evening

Brockport  vs  Hobart  at Univ. of Rochester  8:00 PM
Wendy's College Classic  Consolation Bracket
Brockport needs to put a complete game together and come through in crunch time to get back on the winning track. Unfortunately tonight may not be the night they get it done. Hobart will present a tough challenge for the Golden Eagles as it should be another game that comes down to the wire. The Statesmen are favored by a slim 3 point margin ad I think that they will probably pull off a win here by a 67-63 final. I sure hope I'm wrong on this one though.     

[magicman]

2 close games being contested at the moment.

Geneseo leads St John Fisher 56-51 with 1:11 left to play.

Brockport has moved out in front of Hobart 49-40 with 15:21 left in the game.

[magicman]

Final scores from this evening.

Plattsburgh State 81  New Paltz 69

Cortland State 78 Buffalo State 69

Oneonta State 79  Potsdam State 73

Oswego State 63  Fredonia State 62

[magicman]

The Geneseo game has gone final with the Knights defeating St John Fisher by a 63-55 score.

[magicman]

Brockport has seen a 15 point 49-34 lead with 16:25 left to play dwindle down to a 54-50 lead with 10:47 to go. That's a pattern we need to get away from here. C'mon Brockport.

[magicman]

Hobart came all the way back from a 15 point deficit and took the lead away from Brockport as they went ahead 61-60 with exactly 6 minutes left in the game. The Statesmen would pull ahead by 3 points on several occasions, the last time at 71-68 with 54 seconds remaining. The Golden Eagles did not fold however as Clifton Lyerly hit a layup and was fouled with 28 ticks on the clock. The sophomore calmly dropped the tying free throw through the hoop and when Hobart missed a jumper with 6 seconds left, Lyerly corralled the rebound to send the game into OT.

In the extra period it was Hobart who score first on a Jake Rayburn layup but the Golden Eagles would regain the lead as Patrick Modzelewski  buried a three pointer. Lyerly then scored to put Port up by 3 but the Statesmen came back to tie the score at 76 apiece. Levi Pace put Brockport back up 78-76 with 1:31 to go and yet again Hobart got even when Trey Blanding was fouled and made both free throws with 15 seconds on the clock. This time Brockport had the ball fir the final shot and after Coach Dunne took a time out with 11 seconds to go, Lyerly once again hit a big basket with 3 ticks left to seal the game for the Eagles, 80-78.

Modzelewski had a double-double of 30 points and 11 boards to gain game honors in both those categories. Lyerly added 22 points 6  rebounds and 6 assists. 

Brockport will meet Nazareth tomorrow at 3:00 Pm for the 5th place spot in the tournament. Hobart will meet RIT to see who comes in 7th and 8th.

Glad to see I was wrong on this game. I had Hobart winning it 67-63 in a close one. I went 5-1 with my picks tonight and this is the one I wanted to be wrong about. Good job  Brockport.   

[Bengalsrule]

Call me superstitious (or crazy) but I swear that the fix is in when my BENGALS go to Cortland. First let me congratulate the Red Dragons (and franelia) on a good win. Having said that "Congrats"...let me vent.

You may remember last year the Bengals were out shot at the free throw line 54- 12. Thats 54 Free throw attempts for Cortland  to 12 for BUFF STATE. Tonight it was 30 Cortland free throw attempts to 9 BUFF State Free attempts.  In 2 games at Cortland thats 84-21. Having seen both games in person I am even more shocked that this disparity is allowed to continue. Maybe its just bad timimg on the BENGALS part (the stars align at the exact same point 2 years in a row, or the moon is in its 23 rd orbit ), but this is crazy. I dont want to say that my BENGALS get screwed by the refs at Cortland but.....84/21?

Oh well (glad I got that out of my system).... Its on to Oswego. Gotta get a good nights rest if I want to make it to that 1. Im nervous, 1 of the refs who did the game tonight at Cortland is supposed to be working the game  tomorrow at Oswego too!!:o

Go BENGALS!!!

84 to 21???.....

[magicman]

All 10 teams in action on Saturday. Not a lot of time so I'll go for some quick picks.


Oneonta State    at   Plattsburgh State        2:00 PM
Plattsburgh has owned the Red Dragons for the past few year   s. I hope to see that trend continue today. Oddsmakers have made the Cardinals a 13 point favorite. I'll go with my Cardinals to take this one by an 83-73 final score.
   
New Paltz State    at      Potsdam State        2:00 PM
This game is a pick em according to the point spread. I'd like to pick my alma mater but the Bears haven't given me much reason to do so in the past few years. This is one of the few games that they might get a W though so I'll take a chance on them. Potsdam 70 New Paltz 67.
   
Buffalo State    at   Oswego State        2:00 PM
Bengals wounded after their excursion in Cortland yesterday. Would love to make the trip home with at least a split. If they go 0-2 in the conference right away they may not recover. Oswego not playing like I thought they would. Oswego hasn't scored in the  70's all year  Lakers are a slight 3 point home favorite here, but I'm taking the underdog Bengals to have a jovial ride home to the Queen City. Buff St 74 Oswego 69   

Fredonia State  at   Cortland State        2:00 PM
Fredonia came close yesterday in Oswego but don't think they will do that here today. Close will be if they can keep it to a single digit loss. The point spread says they can't as the Red Dragons are favored by 17 points. Cortland stays unbeaten as they win this one 80-68. 

Brockport State   vs   Nazareth  at Geneseo State                         3:00 PM
5th place game at Wendy's College Classic
Brockport back on the winning track and hoping to start a streak. I think this will be another one that goes down to the wire. This is rated as a pick em game and I'll try my luck with the Golden Eagles to scratch out a 68-65 win.

Geneseo State   vs    Roberts Wesleyan at RIT            8:00 PM
Championship Game of Wendy's College Classic
This will be the 16th time these two teams have met and Geneseo leads the series by an 8-7 margin. I don't know anything about this school so I'm just going with a random guess and taking the YAC team to pull out a win. Point spread has Geneseo favored by a slim 3 point margin, so I'll pick the Knights to win by a 75-72 final score.     

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State 81  New Paltz State 69

The Cardinals presented Coach Tom Curle  with his 200th win Friday night as Plattsburgh State's Head Coach and they didn't waste any time in letting the home crowd get comfortable with that milestone. Happy to be home after opening the season with 3 weeks of 5 straight games on the road, the Cardinals and their fans were hoping to set the tone right from the opening bell. Ezra Hodgson didn't disappoint as he opened the scoring with a 3 pointer to get the Cardinals on the board. Reggie Williams followed with 2 straight layups and Hodgson hit another jumper. Just like that, the home team raced to a 9-0 lead. New Paltz finally got on the board 3:40 into the game, only to watch the Cards rattle off another 11 unanswered point to jump in front 20-2 with 8 minutes gone in the game. Curle could have lit his victory cigar at that point because the Hawks never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way. The lead ballooned to as much as 22 points as Curle substituted freely throughout the game.

Ezra Hodgson led the Cardinals in the scoring column with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Jordan Moody came off the bench and pumped in 15 points in only 15 minutes of floor time. The X-Man, Xavier Thomas, also came off the bench and had double figures with 13 points in only 17 minutes of playing time. His thunderous two handed jam off an alley-oop pass from Mike Mitchell just before halftime brought the home crowd to their feet and was the highlight of the game. Reggie Williams just missed another double-double as the big guy was the game's leading rebounder with 10 boards. He added 9 points, 3 blocks, 3 assists and a pair of steals to show off his versatility. Point guard Mike Mitchell was nearly flawless in running the show for the Cardinals with 7 assists, a pair of 3 pointers and only 1 turnover in 28 minutes on the floor. The Cards shot 42% from the field and 40 % from long distance as they made 10 of 25 from long range with 6 different players cashing in from beyond the arc. They won the battle of the boards 45-39 and had 13 turnovers to 17 for the Hawks.

New Paltz was led by Eric Regenbogen with 13 points and 6 rebounds. R.J. Rosa also had 13 points. He added 3 boards, 3 steals, 2 assists and a block. Taylor Sowah had 11 points and 8 rebounds. The Hawks shot 35% from the field and 41% from behind the arc.

Plattsburgh improved to 5-1 and will host Oneonta on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM

New Paltz falls to 1-5 and will travel over to Potsdam to face the Bears at the same time on Saturday.       

[magicman]

Went 5-1 with my 6 predictions yesterday:

Plattsburgh State 81  New Paltz 69   I had the Cardinals winning this one 85-68 so I  wasn't too far off with my prediction. Cards actually had  a 22 point lead with about 4 minutes left in the game and the Hawks hit a few 3's in garbage time to close the final gap. Only 3 points off with my total of 153. 

Cortland State 78 Buffalo State 69   Huge discrepancy at the foul line was the difference in this game as the Red Dragons outscored the Bengals 20-5 from the stripe. This game was a back and forth affair for the first 30 minutes with lead changes aplenty (11) along with 7 ties. Bengals still close as it was a 2 possession game with 2:22 to go. Cortland hit 8 of 10 from the line down the stretch. I had this game as a 76-73 Cortland win so I was pretty close. My total of 149 was only 2 points off. 

Oneonta State 79  Potsdam State 73    I had Oneonta winning this one 76-66. With 47 seconds left it was 77-68. The Bears closed the gap in the final few seconds but i was still fairly close.

Oswego State 63  Fredonia State 62  The Lakers led this by as much as 10 points in the first half but the Blue Devils hung tough and actually has a 3 point lead with 1:42 left to play. The Lakers got back to back buckets though to pull out the win. I had this one a 70-58 win by Oswego . My total of 128 wasn't far off but it was closer than i thought it would be. Oswego still not firing on all cyclinders offensively. 


Geneseo State 63  St John Fisher 55   I had the Knights winning this one in a close 75-70 contest. It was a close game throughout but in crunch time Gordon Lyons and Andy Drescher came up big for Geneseo. With the score 49-48 in favor of Geneseo with 5 minutes remaining, Drescher nailed a 3 pointer and Lyons came through with back to back layups and the lead was 56-50 with 2:19 left. Then Drescher and Lyons combined to hit 7 of 8 free throws to close out the Cardinals. Lyons won his battle with Fisher's big man Keegan Ryan but not by much as Ryan put up a good stat line for himself. Ryan had 16 points, 10 rebounds and a steal. Lyons had 18 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks, 1 assist and a steal.     

Brockport  State 80  Hobart 78     This was the only game I missed and if I'm going to be wrong this is the one I wanted to be wrong about. I had Hobart winning this one by a 67-63 final. At the end of regulation it was tied at 71 and that was close to the total I projected.

Hope I can do as well with my selections for Saturday's games.

[amh63]

My congrats to Coach Curle on his 200th win...too!!!
Seems I know him through you, Magicman. .  Does he have any more children?  Based on his daughter's play at Bowdoin,  Amherst maybe interested.

[magicman]

My congrats to Coach Curle on his 200th win...too!!!
Seems I know him through you, Magicman. .  Does he have any more children?  Based on his daughter's play at Bowdoin,  Amherst maybe interested.

Indeed you do know him through me amh63. And for another reason that only you, I and two other persons know about. Coach Curle's win was his 200th at Plattsburgh. He is closing in on his 300th win in NCAA Diivision III. Overall including his record at Alfred State when it was just a 2 year school he has amassed 463 wins. Hopefully he's got a few hundred or so left in him. I'll pass on your congratulations to him when I see him on Monday.

His daughter that is at Bowdoin is his youngest. Unfortunately there are no more young Curle men or women in the pipeline. 

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State loses to Oneonta State in overtime 94-92.

Took in a barnburner today at Memorial Hall and the fans in attendance certainly got their money's worth. I would have liked a different outcome but it was a good game and I learned a long, long, long (remember I'm old) time ago that you can't win them all. This game was a back and forth affair the entire way. The largest lead either team enjoyed was a 7 point Oneonta lead early in the 1st half. The Cardinals were ahead 5-4 when the Red Dragons' Seth Thomsen hit a 3 pointer and Frankie Kelly had back to back scores on a drive to the basket followed by a jumper. After the Cards' Ezra Hodgson made a layup, Oneonta's Zach Mager nailed another 3 pointer and the visitors had their largest lead of the afternoon at 14-7 with 16:31 on the clock. Not to be outdone the Cardinals came right back with another Hodgson bucket, a free throw from Shamoy McIntosh, a jumper by Reggie Williams, a steal and a jam by McIntosh, another inside basket by Williams, which was then capped off by a long range trifecta from Mike Mitchell. In the span of 3 minutes and 12 seconds the Cardinals had reeled off a 12-0 run and reclaimed the lead with their biggest margin of the half at 19-14, with 13:19 left in the period. From that point on through the entire remaining 38:19 of regulation and overtime neither team had more than a 2 possession lead.

I must admit when the Cardinals ran off those 12 unanswered points, I was thinking that the home team was well on their way and I was going to witness a similar scenario to that which took place on Friday evening. The run would continue...the gap would get larger.. and I could relax and watch my Cardinals coast to the finish line. After all, Plattsburgh had won 14 of the previous 15 games against Oneonta and this one wasn't about to be any different. Boy was I wronn... wroonnn.... ( like Fonzie I'm having trouble saying that word)....wrong. There I said it.

Back came the Red Dragons and they outscored Plattsburgh 15 to 5 over the next 4 minutes to take a 29-24 advantage. Jack Dignan came off the Oneonta bench to nail 3 consecutive three point bombs to lead that surge and they were still up by 5 at 32-27 with 6:06 remaining. Xavier Thomas made a pair a free throws for Plattsburgh and on the Cardinals' next possession, point guard Mike Mitchell drained another 3 pointer with an Oneonta defender draped all over him as the shot clock hit zero. That tied it up at 32, but a Kelly drive and Mager 3 pointer boosted Oneonta back into a 2 possession lead. McIntosh hit a pair of free throws, Mager countered with the same. McIntosh scored again to cut the lead to 39-37 but Oneonta's Mikey McElroy hit a basket with 1.7 seconds on the clock and the visitors went into the break with a 4 point lead.

All that did was set the stage for another 20 minutes of steady back and forth action. The score was tied in this game 16 times and there were 22 lead changes. The Red Dragons biggest lead in the 2nd half was a 5 point margin at the 14:03 mark of 52-47, when Mager hit a 3 pointer and he followed that with a fast break layup. The Cardinals had a 5 point advantage that matched their largest lead of the day when the X-man Thomas made an old fashioned 3 point play to give Plattsburgh a 67-62 edge with 7:32 to go.

Down the stretch they came trading baskets and leads right to the end. Tied at 73 with 3:15 on the clock, Eddie Correa buried a three to put the Cards on top. A free throw from McElroy and another 3 pointer from Mager changed the lead again. Jordan Moody hit a triple for the Cards, Kareem Williams scored inside for the Dragons. Moody hit a pair of free throws, Lawrence Coleman did the same for Oneonta and once more it was tied at 81. Moody then made 1 of 2 from the line with 42 seconds to go but Jack Dignan hit his 4th 3 pointer with 20 seconds left and the Red Dragons were up 84-82. Cardinals' Coach Curle called a time out with 13 seconds left, to set up a play that would go inside to Reggie Williams and the big guy didn't disappoint, as he scored easily when he got the ball down low.  He actually scored too quickly because there was time left  for Oneonta to get off  one last shot. Oneonta called a time out to set something up but the Cardinals' X-man Thomas stole the ball, gave it a heave at the buzzer, and that sent the teams into the extra session.

So now is when things turn out alright. All that is good and just in the world will come to pass. The Cardinals will win and I can leave Memorial Hall one happy fellow. The Red Dragon, however, had other ideas. The bonus frame opened up just as the previous one ended. The Cards got the ball in to the big guy and Mr. Williams did what he done all night long, scored easily to give the Cards the early lead 15 seconds into the OT. 23 seconds later Shamoy McIntosh stole the ball and fed the X-man for a fastbreak basket. Oneonta then went to the foul line and a sure sign that things were going our way showed up when they missed both free throws. We now had the ball, a 4 point lead and the chance to do further damage. I wish we had decided to go back to our bread and butter play, work some time off the clock, get the ball into the big guy again, (cause it's only worked, like forever tonight) and maybe build the advantage to 6 or 7 points with a hoop and harm. We didn't do that though, we missed a shot, Oneonta got the rebound and Jack Dignan swished his fifth 3 pointer of the game. Seconds later Dignan stole the ball and the turnover led to a layup inside for Mager. The All Conference performer was fouled on the play, so they ended up with the hoop and harm, and he made the free throw to put Oneonta up 90-88. This time the Cardinals did go back inside to their big man and once again Williams was money, as he tied the game at 90 with 2:12 remaining. Oneonta came down and went inside to Lawrence Coleman and he scored to put the Red Dragons back in front. Each team then had 2 more cracks to do some damage but both times they came up empty. Plattsburgh then went back to Reggie Williams and again he tied the game up with an effortless move to the basket. There were 19 seconds remaining and Plattsburgh called a time out. Oneonta inbounded the ball to Frankie Kelly and the point guard dribbled the clock down, made his move to the basket and executed a layup about as good as you can when you're a smaller player moving among the trees. With 2.7 seconds on the clock this game was history. The Cardinals tried a long entry pass that was picked off by Zach Mager and the Red Dragons had gone 2-0 in their trip to the North Country. I'm not happy we lost but you have to credit the Oneonta team for their excellent play. Hopefully my Cardinals will return the favor on February 6th when we take a little trip to visit Dewar Arena.

Plattsburgh was led by Reggie Williams with a new career high of 24 points on 12x17 shooting tonight. Reggie had just established a new career high on November 24th at Skidmore. How a guy of his size, with all the touches he had tonight never made it to the free throw line is simply amazing. Reggie did complete another double-double as he added 10 rebounds (seemed like there were more than that) 3 blocks, 2 assists and a steal. Xavier Thomas came off the bench to score 14 points (5x8 fg, 1x3 3's, 3x3 ft) with 5 rebounds. (seemed like he had more as well). The X-man skied high tonight with 5 blocks, 2 steals and 1 assist, in 22 minutes of floor time. Shamoy McIntosh had 12 points (3x11 fg, 0x3 3's, 6x8 ft) and 3 rebounds. He added 3 steals and 3 assists. Jordan Moody also came off the bench with 11 points (2x9 fg,1x5 3's, 6x10 ft), 2 rebounds and 2 assists. Kyle Richardson added 10 points (4x6 fg, 2x3 3's,) with 5 boards, 2 steals, a block, and 1 assist  in only 18 minutes on the court.

The Cardinals shot 33x66 from the field (50%), 9x25 from the arc (36%), and 17x23 from the line (73.9%). They lost the rebounding battle by a slight 39-37 count and had 17 TO's to only 13 for Oneonta.

They fall to 5-2 overall, 1-1 SUNYAC  and will be off until December 31st when they travel to Keene NH to take on the Keene Owls on New Years Eve at 5 PM.

Oneonta was led by Zach Mager who was the game's leading scorer with 31 points (10x15 fg, 4x7 3's, 7x7 ft). He added 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 assist in 40 minutes on the court. Frankie Kelly had a double-double tonight as he scored 18 points(7x15 fg, 4x4 ft) and dished out 10 dimes. He added 4 rebounds and a steal in 37 minutes of playing time. Jack Dignan hit 5 baskets but they were all bombs from downtown. He finished with 15 points (5x11 fg, 5x10 3's). He added 3 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Mike McElroy also had double figures with 12 points (3x9 fg,0x3 3's, 6x10 ft), 5assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal. Kareem Williams led the Red Dragons with 11 rebounds and had 4 points.

Oneonta shot 32x70 from the field (45.7%), 11x26 from distance (42,3%) and 19x27 from the line (70.4%)

They improve to 4-3 overall, 2-0 SUNYAC and travel to Florida in 2 weeks to take on the Roanoke College Maroons from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference on Dec. 19th at 4:00 PM in Daytona Beach. They will face another team from the ODAC the next day when they match up with the Bridgewater College Eagles of Virginia at 2:00 PM also in Daytona Beach.

Good luck to the Red Dragons on their trip south. I hope you can come back with a couple of wins. If you play the way you did against Williams and Plattsburgh I'm sure you can. If you play the way you did against Hartwick you're in trouble.

Nice talking with Zach Mager and Frankie Kelly after the game tonight. You both were lights out today. If I knew you were going to shoot the ball as well as you did I'd probably have picked you guys. We'll get you back in February though.  Revenge is a great motivator.                                                                

[Bengalsrule]

Momma said that there would be days (weekends) like this! . After a tough 1 vs Cortland, I had much hope that my BENGALS could pull 1 off at Oswego. I was wrong!  Not much to say when you spot a team a 24 pt lead (29-5).

Go BENGALS!!

[magicman]

Just discovered that Medaille was playing Geneseo tonight. Must be a make up game from the big snowstorm. I would have picked Geneseo to win this game 76-70. Right now the score I saw has Medaille winning 63-60  with 9:09 left to play. I'll still go with my 76-70 Geneseo win though.