MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

Jan. 9  Full slate of games today as all 10 teams are in action as the conference season now heats up. Oswego at Cortland is the featured game of the night as the Lakers put their unblemished conference record on the line. Oneonta hosting Geneseo is another big game that could ultimately have a major impact on the final seeding of the SUNYAC tournament. All games tip off at 5:30 PM 

Plattsburgh State     at   Fredonia State        5:30 PM
   
Brockport State   at     New Paltz State        5:30 PM

Geneseo State   at     Oneonta State        5:30 PM

Potsdam State   at     Buffalo State        5:30 PM
   
Oswego State   at     Cortland State        5:30 PM   

[thebear]

Apparently the governor has closed the Thruway from Rochester to the PA State Line.  Hoping it clears by later today.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/snowstorm-forces-closure-132-mile-stretch-ny-thruway-28107528

[Bengalsrule]

Apparently the governor has closed the Thruway from Rochester to the PA State Line.  Hoping it clears by later today.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/snowstorm-forces-closure-132-mile-stretch-ny-thruway-28107528

Fear not thebear.  I will be sending a cab to pick up Hendricks, Estramonte and Adams for tonight's game to make sure that they get there on time. Tell them to look for a cab from "niagars falls tours". I've already paid the guy so he will make sure that they get to their uhhh "destination". Look for Ontario license plates

[magicman]

The Cardinals and Bears  arrived at their western NY destinations yesterday didn't they?

[magicman]

Time to check out the matchups for tonight.

Plattsburgh State     at   Fredonia State        5:30 PM

Plattsburgh looks to get back on the winning path and the Blue Devils seem to be just the right answer. Fredonia has yet to win a game against a D3 team however they did come real close to pulling off the upset of the year, nearly knocking off Oswego in Laker Hall. They lost that game by a 63-62 score as the Lakers scored with 21 seconds left to pull out the win. That was there high water mark however as they have lost their last 3 games by double digits margins. Plattsburgh has won 4 straight and 7 of the past 10 games in this series. The point spread for tonight's game has the Cardinals favored by 15 points but I think the margin could be larger. I see Plattsburgh winning by an 81-58 final score. 


Brockport State   at     New Paltz State        5:30 PM

Brockport is on a roll winning their last 3 games to even their record at 4-4. New Paltz is also on a roll winning back to back games for the 1st time all year. Something's gotta give and I think it will be the Hawks doing the giving. Brockport seems to be a different team with the addition of Patrick Modzelewski, who is leading the team in scoring with a 22.8 ppg average. Coach Dunne has been searching for the right combinations as 12 different players have started a game for the Golden Eagles. New Paltz with a big upset last week taking down unbeaten Cortland in Cortland. The team has to be feeling good about themselves after that outcome. The Golden Eagles have owned this series recently winning 7 of the last 8 games. I think they make it 8 out of 9 tonight. The odds makers have Brockport listed as a 4 point favorite. I think the Golden Eagles will  win this one by a 78-66 final.     

Geneseo State   at     Oneonta State        5:30 PM

Big game here as the Knights look to stay unbeaten in conference play and Oneonta looks to rebound from a tough overtime loss at Oswego on Tuesday night. Geneseo is favored to win this game by a slim 2 point margin as they try to make it 7 in a row over the Red Dragons. I'm going to take the underdog in this game and go with Oneonta to protect their home court. It should be a dandy of a game though and overtime isn't out of the question. I think the final score might be Oneonta 75 Geneseo 72.


Potsdam State   at     Buffalo State        5:30 PM

One of these teams will get off the schneid tonight in conference play. The Bengals seem to be the logical choice as the Bears have struggled mightily this year. The Bears have also struggled against the Bengals as they haven't beaten Buffalo State since 2007 and their losing streak has reached 12 games.  The oddsmakers have made Buff State a 10 point favorite but when the Bears play in the Queen City their average margin of defeat in the past 7 years is 16 points. Final score tonight...Bengals 84 Bears 68. 
   
Oswego State   at     Cortland State        5:30 PM

The game of the night has Oswego putting their undefeated conference record on the line in Cortland. The Red Dragons would love nothing better than to gain a measure of revenge against the team that beat them 3 times last year and ended their season by handing them back to back losses. Cortland can't take over first place with a win unless Geneseo and Brockport both lose tonight but the Red Dragons can tighten the race considerably with a victory. The point spread has the Red Dragons favored by 7 points and I think that the oddsmakers have this one wrong. I picked Oswego to finish ahead of Cortland in the conference standings and despite Cortland's early season success, I still think Oswego is the better team. I may be bucking the odds here as Cortland lost at home on Tuesday and they don't often lose back to back home games but I'll take the Lakers to win this one by a 70-67 final score.       

[magicman]

Fredonia 31-Plattsburgh 27 at the half.

Fredonia's Kyree Hull leads all scorers with 13 points.

Ed Correa tops Plattsburgh with 9 points.

[magicman]

Oswego all over Cortland at the break by a score of 47-24.

Brian Sortino with 12, Rashawn Powell with 11, and Kyle Coveley with 9  to lead the Lakers.

Lamard Herron, Grequan Carter and Blair Estafa all have 6 points for Cortland.

[magicman]

Buffalo State doubling up Potsdam by a 42-21 score at the half.

Lovell Smith with 9 and Chris Cartwright with 8 top the Bengals. Jordan Glover and Rod Epps with 7 each.

Rishawd Hendricks with 8 and Joe Estramonte with 7 for the Bears.

[magicman]

Geneseo out in front of Oneonta by double digits 37-25 at the half.

Devon Anderson with 9 points and James McKenna with 8 lead the Knights.

Lawrence Coleman tops Oneonta with 9 points.

[magicman]

Brockport with a narrow lead over New Paltz 34-31 at halftime.

Aaron White with 10 points to lead the Golden Eagles. No sign of Clifton Lylerly.

R.J. Rosa taking up where he left off on Tuesday night has 14 points and is keeping the Hawks in this game.

[magicman]

Plattsburgh defeats Fredonia by a 67-58 final score.

Eddie Correa, Shamoy McIntosh and Reggie Williams all have 15 points to lead the Cardinals. McIntosh gets a double-double as he also leads the Cardinals with 11 rebounds. Williams has 8 rebounds. Kyle Richardson comes off the bench to score 6 points and grab 9 rebounds.

Sloppy game by both teams but especially Plattsburgh State. The Cardinals shot poorly from the line once again. They could have won this game by 20 points if they made their free throws.  They were 22x61 from the field (36.1%), 7x19 from 3 point land (36.8%) and 16x29 (55.2%).

Fredonia got 15 points from Kyree Hull and 14 points from Bayron Carter. Ian Helps helped out with 8 points and 10 rebounds.  (I couldn't resist)

Plattsburgh won the battle of the boards 45-37. The Blue Devils committed 19 turnovers to 14 for Plattsburgh.

The Cardinal improve to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in the YAC and will take on the Buffalo State tomorrow afternoon at 2 PM .

Fredonia falls to 1-7, 0-4 in the conference and will take on Potsdam tomorrow at 2 PM.

[magicman]

Final scores:

Oswego 81 Cortland 67

Oswego led this one from start to finish. Up by double digits with 7:24 left in the first half, the Lakers just kept piling it on. Ahead by 23 at the break they widened the margin to 28 with 7:50 remaining, and coasted to the finish.
Brian Sortino with 20 points led four Lakers in double figures. Walter Sampson had 18 points with 5 assists, Rashawn Powell had 13 points with 5 rebounds, and Kyle Covely had 12.

Blair Estafaa was the high man for the Red Dragons and the leading score in the game with 26 points. T.J. Hefele was the only other Cortland player in double figures.

Oswego remains in sole possession of 1st place with a 4-0 conference mark. The Lakers improve to 8-3 overall.
Cortland has now suffered its 2nd consecutive loss after opening up with 8 straight wins and drops to 2-2 in the YAC.

Both Cortland and Oswego are off tomorrow.


New Paltz 57 Brockport 55

New Paltz pulls up their 2nd upset in a week as they take advantage of a costly turnover by the Golden Eagle with 50 swconds left in the game. Port had the lead and the ball  but coughed it up leading by a 55-54 score. New Paltz missed a 3 point attempt but got the offensive board. They missed again from in close but grabbed another offensive rebound and this time the Hawks wound the clock down and got a three pointer by Andrew Seniuk to fall, with 5 seconds left to play. 

TJ Rosa was the top pointgetter for the night with 19 points for the Hawks. Taylor Sowah had 9 points and 8 rebounds.

Levi Pace was the high man for Brockport with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Aaron White and Patrick Modzelewski both had 10 points. Modzelewski also had 8 rebounds.

New Paltz improves to 3-1 in the YAC, 5-6 overall, and moves into 3rd place. They will take on Geneseo tomorrow at 2 PM.

Brockport falls to 4-5 overall and 1-1 in conference play. They will meet up with Oneonta tomorrow at 2 PM.


Geneseo 71 Oneonta 58

The Knights started slowly and trailed the Red Dragons for the first 5 minutes of the game, but a James McKenna 3 pointer gave them the lead at 10-9. The teams were tied at 12 when the Knights put some daylight between then with a 10-0 run and they were never headed. The lead reached 15 points at 33-18 before the Red Dragons cut it to 37-25 at he half. Geneseo was never threatened in the 2nd half as the Red Dragons failed to mount a significant comeback. Halfway through the period the lead had grown to 19 points and the Knights kept control throughout the remainder of the game.

James McKenna led the Knights with 18 points. Devon Anderson and Andy Drescher both had 12 points and 5 rebounds. Gordon Lyons almost missed his  automatic double-double but managed to get 10 points to go with his 16 rebounds.

Oneonta got 14 points and a team high 6 rebounds from Zach Mager. Jack Dignan had 13 points and Lawrence Coleman added 11.

Geneseo improved to 6-3 and remained the only undefeated team in the conference other than Oswego. The Knights are 2-0  in the YAC and will meet New Paltz tomorrow at 2 PM.

Oneonta falls to 5-6 overall and 2-2 in conference play as they are tied for the 5th playoff spot for the time being. They will face Brockport tomorrow at 2 PM.


Buffalo State 82 Potsdam 55

I thought Buffalo State would put a licking on the Bears bigger than the 7 point spread they were favored by. I had the final score at 84-68. I was pretty close with that one as the Bengals won by 27 points. Buffalo State opened the game on a 14-3 run after the first 5 minutes of play. That lead grew to 23-7 and then 42-21 at the break. The 2nd half was more of the same. The Bengals led by as much as 27 points on several occasions and that ended up as the final margin as well.

The entire starting lineup of the Bengals had double figures led by Jordan Glover's 16 points. Lovell Smith had 15 points and 5 rebounds. Rod Epps had identical numbers in both categories. Chris cartwright had 13 points and 7 assists, while Larry Rivers had 10 points.

The Bears got 18 points from Joe Estramonte, who captured scoring honors, along with 10 points and 6 rebounds from Rishawd Hendricks.

Buff State gets their first conference win and improves to 4-5 overall. They will meet up with Plattsburgh State at 2 PM tomorrow.

Potsdam falls to 1-8 overall and 0-3 in the YAC. They get a chance for their first conference win tomorrow when they take on the other winless conference team in Fredonia at 2 PM.

3-2 with my picks tonight. Didn't expect Brockport to lose to New Paltz and thought that Oneonta might pull off the upset of Geneseo.

                                     

[magicman]

Congratulations again to Reggie Williams from Plattsburgh State who, in addition to his SUNYAC Player of the Week honors, was chosen as the ECAC DIII Upstate Co-Player of the Week. Reggie was right back at work on Friday night helping the Cards defeat Fredonia with a 15 point, 8 rebound effort. Way to go Big Guy.  

[magicman]

Four games on tap today in the Conference.   

Plattsburgh State     at   Buffalo State   2:00 PM

This game should be an offensive explosion as both teams like to get up and down the court in a hurry. Bengals finally get a SUNYAC win and look to start a streak. Cardinals hope they can end the day in 2nd place as they face conference leader Oswego in their next game. The Cardinals won both matchups last year and have a slight 9-8 series lead over the past 8 years. The oddsmakers have the Cardinals favored by 8 points but I think the game will be closer than that. Too many times in this series a game has been decided by a basket at the buzzer. That could happen again today but I think the Cardinals will win a close one without the buzzer beater. Final score Plattsburgh 85 Buffalo State 80. 

 
Geneseo State  at   New Paltz State   2:00 PM

The  Knights (are they still called the Blue Knights anymore?) will try to keep pace with Oswego and keep their conference record unblemished. The Hawks are enjoying their lofty perch as the occupy 3rd place in the standings all by themselves. Back to back upsets of Cortland and Brockport may lead this team to higher ground. The point spread favors the Knights by just 7 points and with no common conference opponents it's hard for the oddsmakers to figure where this game might end up. I think that Geneseo's Gordon Lyons will have a huge game today and the Hawks will come back down to earth. Lyons has put up numbers that shows why he was selected as an All American.  Nine games...nine double-doubles. No one in the DIII universe does it better. Final score today Geneseo 78 New Paltz 65.

Brockport State  at  Oneonta State        2:00 PM

This game has the home team favored by a slim 2 points and the big question is will Clifton Lyerly miss this game since he didn't play in yesterday's contest. Both teams looking to get back on the winning track and the winner will have a leg up in the standings. With Lyerly in the lineup I'd probably pick the Golden Eagles to win this game but without his offense I'm taking Oneonta. Red Dragons 75  Brockport 71 
   
Potsdam State  at   Fredonia State        2:00 PM

Which team will escape the cellar by claiming their first YAC victory. Hard to pick the winner here but it's even harder to pick the visiting team when they haven't shown an ability to get a win anywhere (except the 1 on a neutral court). Fredonia listed as a 3 point favorite here but I think they win by more than that. Final score Fredonia 67 Potsdam 61     

[magicman]

Plattsburgh 41 Buffalo State 34

The Cardinals broke loose from a 34-34 tie with 1:35 to go in the half to score 7 unanswered points. Plattsburgh got a layup from Jordan Moody at the 1;20 mark, followed by another layup by Reggie Williams after a miss on Buffalo State's possession. After the Bengals missed a 3pointer in their next tri down the floor, the Cardinals set up for one last shot before the buzzer. With 1 second left Eddie Correa let fly with a 3 point attempt and was fouled in the process. The shot didn't go in but Correa nailed all 3 free throws to give the Cards the 7 point lead at the break.

Correa leads all scorers with 12 points and Jordan Moody is close behind with 10. Reggie Williams has 6 points and 5 rebounds.

Lovell Smith has 10 points and 4 rebounds for the Bengals. Chris Cartwright is next with 7 points.