MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

Final score  Geneseo 80 Medaille 77

Geneseo comes back from an 13 point first half deficit of 31-18 with 8:11 left, to close the gap to a single point at the break. The Knights were still down by 11 points at 41-30 with 2:31 remaining but a 10-0 run to end the half punctuated by an Andy Drescher 3 pointer at the buzzer made it 41-40.

The 2nd half looked like a repeat of the 1st period as the Knights once again fell behind by a large margin. After Geneseo took a brief 45-41 lead as the half started on a layup by Gordon Lyons and another 3 pointer by Drescher, Medaille rattled off 11 unanswered points to go back in front 52-45. The Mavericks used a pair of long range bombs by Miles Newcomb and  Putter Brown, sandwiched around an old fashioned 3 point play by Ryan Grandits to turn it around. Two minutes later they got another pair of back to back trifectas from 2 different players as Grandits hit a long range bomb and after a Geneseo turnover, Louie Oliveri nailed another one. The Knights were now trailing 60-49 with 14:17 remaining. However, Geneseo didn't fold and behind 9 points from Lyons they went on a 15-3 tear to regain the lead at 64-63 with 7:46 to go. Two more lead changes and two ties would take place until the Knights got a hoop and harm from Andy Drescher to go in front 75-72 with just under 3 minutes to play. Geneseo would not trail again. Medaille missed on their next possession but so did Geneseo. The Mavericks came down with 2 minutes to go missed a layup, got the rebound, but turned it over. Geneseo then went back inside to Lyons and he scored to give the Knights a 77-72 lead with just over a minute left in the game. Chris Willingham quickly hit a 3 pointer for the Mavericks and they took a timeout with 54 seconds left. Needing a stop the Mavericks played great defense for 33 seconds, but as the shot clock wound down, the Knights' Connor Rogers hit a layup that would prove to be the winning points. Medaille got a quick basket with 6 seconds to go to make it 79-77, took a time out and fouled Drescher on the inbounds pass. Drescher made 1 of 2 giving the Mavericks one last chance to hit a game tying 3 pointer. They got the shot off but it didn't go down and the Knights escaped with a win.

Gordon Lyons had another big game for Geneseo with a double-double of 34 points and 12 rebounds. Gordon had 17 points and 8 boards in the 1st half and 17 points and 4 boards in the 2nd half. Andy Drescher had 21 points and 5 rebounds while Kevin Crockett also had double figures with 10 points. Nick Fessenden only had 2 points but grabbed 10 rebounds and Charlie Zaepfel dished out 7 assists.

The Knights completed their 4th game in 6 days as they just came off 3 games in the Wendy's tournament where they lost in the Championship Game to Roberts Wesleyan. They improve to 4-3 and the 2 losses to D3 teams were both by 2 points. They are now off until Tuesday, January 6th when they play their initial conference game at Fredonia State at 5:30.

Medaille was led by Chris Williamham with 24 points who managed to knock down 7 3 pointers on the night. He was 7x11 from long range. RYan Grandit was the only other Medaille player in double digits with 10 points.

The Mavericks fall to 2-3 overall and 2 of those losses came at the hands of SUNYAC schools. (Buff St. and Geneseo). They are back in action on Saturday, 12-13 when they host Mount Aloysius at 3:00 PM.

[thebear]

Skidmore at Potsdam ppd due to the weather.  3rd game this season the Bears have had impacted by Mother Nature.

[Bengalsrule]

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.

Gutsy call! And the correct 1 too!

[magicman]

You're up quite late tonight Champ. I'm getting ready to plow my driveway as were getting hit with our first major snowstorm of the year.

[magicman]

Hopefully it will be well short of the 6+ feet you guys got a few weeks ago. 10-14 inches is the prediction here.

[thebear]

The Hilbert Tournament has been rescheduled for January 3 & 4 in Hamburg.

Bears will play the Hawks the first night, and the winner of John Carroll & then either John Carroll or Nazareth.

[magicman]

Saw where Fredonia played Penn State-Behrend last night. I was too busy plowing and shoveling to pay attention to basketball. I would have picked Fredonia to lose this game by a score of 70-60 had I made my usual predictions, since the Lions were 5-0 heading into this game. I will be picking against the Blue Devils in just about every game they play the rest of the year. Turns out I would have been giving Fredonia a bit too much credit as they lost this game by a 71-48 final score.     

[magicman]

The Hilbert Tournament has been rescheduled for January 3 & 4 in Hamburg.

Bears will play the Hawks the first night, and the winner of John Carroll & then either John Carroll or Nazareth.

I see the Potsdam website says that the game with Skidmore will also be rescheduled in the near future. So it looks like the Bears will end up with their full complement of regular season games. I'm just not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

[magicman]

SUNYAC Player of the Week for the week of December 1st thru the 7th was Brockport State junior Partrick Modzelewski. The guard/forward played in his first 3 games of the season for the Golden Eagles, in his first year wearing a Brockport uniform. It was an auspicious beginning for him as he set a Wendy's College Classic record for 3 pointers made in a single game..11 against Nazareth...and also a record for total 3 pointers made in single tournament with 20 in 3 games.

He opened up with a 15 point effort against Rochester in a 59-50 loss in the first round of the Wendy's tourney. Patrick went 6x11 from the field with a 3x6 effort from 3 point land, logging 25 minutes off the bench. He was just getting warmed up.

The next game against Hobart, Patrick tossed in 30 points, this time as a starter, as he was 9x16 from the field with 6 three pointers made in 9 attempts. He was also 6x9 from the line as the Golden Eagles caught Hobart at the end of regulation and beat the Statesmen 80-78 in overtime.

Patrick saved his best for last though, as he nailed 11 long range bombs in 15 attempts and was 3x3  from the line as he scored 36 points in an 82-62 pounding of Nazareth. That must have made Coach Dunne smile as the Golden Eagles handled the Golden Flyers, his Alma Mater. Not only was the 11 three pointers a Wendy's Tourney record it is also a single game record for Brockport State.   

Quite a beginning for Modzelewski at Brockport. With his first week in an green and gold uniform in the books, he was also chosen as the ECAC Upstate Player of the Week. His insertion into the Brockport starting lineup may be just what this team needed to get back on track. They opened the season at 1-4 and now stand 3-4 heading into conference play.

     

[thebear]

Modzelewski is a 6-6 215 xfer from D-II Queens College in the City.

Player with that size who can stroke the long ball will be an impact player.

[thebear]

The Hilbert Tournament has been rescheduled for January 3 & 4 in Hamburg.

Bears will play the Hawks the first night, and the winner of John Carroll & then either John Carroll or Nazareth.

I see the Potsdam website says that the game with Skidmore will also be rescheduled in the near future. So it looks like the Bears will end up with their full complement of regular season games. I'm just not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

John Carroll is ranked 26 by Massey, Hilbert is undefeated and expected to remain so until the New Year, Massey Rank 136, and Naz is 2-3 after the Wendy's with their losses coming at the hands of Rochester, Geneseo, and Brockport.  You do the math.

[magicman]

The Hilbert Tournament has been rescheduled for January 3 & 4 in Hamburg.

Bears will play the Hawks the first night, and the winner of John Carroll & then either John Carroll or Nazareth.

I see the Potsdam website says that the game with Skidmore will also be rescheduled in the near future. So it looks like the Bears will end up with their full complement of regular season games. I'm just not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

John Carroll is ranked 26 by Massey, Hilbert is undefeated and expected to remain so until the New Year, Massey Rank 136, and Naz is 2-3 after the Wendy's with their losses coming at the hands of Rochester, Geneseo, and Brockport.  You do the math.

That was my point! Normally when you have 3 postponed games rescheduled...it's a good thing. In Potsdam's case, to add what could be 3 more losses to the season total is most likely a baaaad thing. Although I sure hope I'm wrong.

[magicman]

Two games involving SUNYAC teams today.

Potsdam State hosts neighboring rival St. Lawrence at 7:00 PM

Saints with a 4-3 record, are 3-0 against the Empire 8 conference, but already 0-3 against the YAC. They would be in 1st place in the E8 and would be in last place in our conference. Go figure. Saints still playing without last year's LL Rookie of the Year, Kyle Edwards.
The Bears are struggling once again, as they presently sport a 1-4 record. After opening the season with a win they have now dropped their last 4 games.  The good news is... they have been in every one of those games, losing the four contests by a total of 18 points. At some point though, they have to learn how to win those games. Bears have also been hurt by 3 postponements due to bad weather. The oddsmakers have made SLU a 5 point favorite in this game. 

I think St. Lawrence will have a Deja Vu moment today, as they came into the Potsdam game last year with an 0-3 record against the same 3 SUNYAC teams that have beaten them this year. They beat Potsdam 69-67 last year in Canton. Today the game is in Potsdam but I think the Saints, like last year will get their first win against the YAC to end up with a 1-3 SUNYAC record and escape our basement. It should be another close game but the Saints will prevail by a 72-67 score or something like that. Again I'd like to be wrong about this one. Go Bears!!


Oswego visits Cazenovia with gametime at 8:00 PM

It's time for Oswego's "guaranteed win" game against the Cazenovia Wildcats. The Lakers have played Cazenovia 5 times in the past 6 years and usually win this game by an average of 25 points. Last year they won 79-49. The point spread only favors the Lakers by 9 points this year. Must be that win the Wildcats had over Morrisville State last week (who beat Geneseo State, 74-72, back on 11-25) weighs heavily on the minds of the oddsmakers.

The real question here is will we see the Oswego team that pounded Buffalo State last week 98-71 or will we see the Oswego team that suffered home losses to Elmira and Clarkson. I'm guessing we'll see the former and that the oddsmakers should have made this a bigger spread. Lakers win 87-68.         

[magicman]

Potsdam State falls to St.Lawrence 65-60.

I had the Saints winning this game 72-67. I was slightly off on the totals but hit the margin of victory right on the button.

Once again Potsdam hangs tough but just can't quite pull out a win. The Bears were up 27-25 at the break in a back and forth first period.
The 2nd half featured 7 lead changes and 6 ties until the Saints, down 46-43 with 7:06 remaining in the game, went on a 13-0 run, ending with a 3 point play by Willie Zachary, to go in front 56-46 with 4:27 left to play. That was the gamebreaker as the Bears couldn't recover. They got as close as 3 points several times but SLU hit their free throws, led by Zachary, who was 4x4 in the final 20 seconds.

Rishawd Hendricks led the Bears with 20 points and Zac Adams tossed in 17. Joe Estramonte, the smallest guy on the floor at 5'9", was the game's top rebounder with 10 boards and he just missed a double-double with 9 points. He also had a game high 6 assists.

The Bears lost this game at the free throw line as they were only 5x12 from the stripe. The Saints made 25 trips to the line and made 18 for a 13 point differential. Rebounds were pretty even, 37 for SLU to 36 for Potsdam and the Bears had 13 TO's to 16 for the Saints.

Kieran Miller and Kyle Kobis both had 15 points to lead St Lawrence. Kobis led the team with 8 rebounds. Zachary Miller added 13 points and 7 rebounds.

Potsdam falls to 1-5 and will return to action on January 3rd at 5:00 PM, when they take on the Hilbert Hawks in the rescheduled Hilbert Tip Off Tournament that was cancelled back in mid-November when that massive snowstorm hit western NY. 

St. Lawrence improves to 5-3 and is off until Jan.2nd when they travel to RPI to open up Liberty League play at 8:00 PM.     

[magicman]

Oswego State 89 Cazenovia 63

No surprises here as the Lakers handled the Wildcats with relative ease. I picked this game to be an 87-68 Laker victory despite the oddsmakers stating that Oswego was only a 9 point favorite. My total of 155 points was only 3 points off the actual 152 point total and the Lakers only scored 2 more points than I thought they would.

Lakers outscored Cazenovia by a 15 point margin 45-30 in the 1st half. The Wildcats actually had the lead at 19-16 with under 10 minutes left in the first half. A 13-0 run by Oswego gave them a 29-19 lead with 5:48 remaining and they stretched that to the 15 point advantage as the period ended.

The 2nd half was more of the same as the lead fluctuated between 20 and 27 points. The Lakers were never threatened and coasted to the win in this annual romp. Brian Sortino was the high scorer with 23 points followed by Walter Sampson with 20 points and 5 assists.

Cazenovia was led by Marquane Silvers with a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Oswego State ups their record to 5-2 and will travel to Daytona Beach to take on the Haverford Fords at 4:00 PM on December 28th.