MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

Cortland gives up double digit 2nd half lead and then has to make two free throws to tie Widener at 73 each with 9 second left to play. Red Dragons manage to prevent the Pride from scoring on the final possession of regulation and the teams are headed  to overtime. Cortland should have won this game already. Hopefully they will prevail in the extra session.

[magicman]

Cortland gets a big rebound and putback by Zach Lydon off a missed 3 point shot by James Morales with three tenths of a second left in the game to pull out an 88-86 victory.

[magicman]

Brockport trailing Carnegie Mellon by a 42-28 score at the half. Golden Eagles not looking good. Will need to make a move early in the 2nd half, to get back in this game.

Devonn Gavin with 8 points to lead Brockport. Marcus Blythers has 7 and Clifton Lyerly has 6.

Ryan Maha leads the Tartans with 16 points and Seth Henry has 12.

[magicman]

Brockport loses to a red hot Carnegie Mellon by an 89-66 score. Not a good day for the Golden Eagles. 

[Bengalsrule]

Brockport loses to a red hot Carnegie Mellon by an 89-66 score. Not a good day for the Golden Eagles.

All I can say is WOW!  No 1 saw that coming!!

[Bengalsrule]

Here's to wishing Brockport best of luck this Friday vs Liberty league front runner St Lawrence ( 8-1)! St Lawrence already has 2 victories vs Yac teams so this match up of 1st place SUNYAC vs first place liberty, may have some impact on number of post season dance tickets for each conference!

I wish that I could watch that game , but ill be dialed in to watching my BENGALS play Potsdam!

[magicman]

The new D3hoops Top 25 poll has been released and Rochester is still the only East Region team in the Top 25.

The Yellowjackets moved up 2 spots to #4 with 507 points an increase of 33 points over the last poll. Still undefeated at 11-0, Rochester takes on local rival RIT later today and will start UAA conference play this weekend when they host Emory University in a contest that could have big implications, down the road, on who may get the automatic NCAA bid. Rochester, Emory, the University of Chicago, and Washington University appear to be the 4 teams that will fight it out for conference supremacy.

Brockport State is the only other East region school receiving votes as they got 25 points, an increase of 5 points since the last poll. Their slow climb up the ladder took a bit hit on Monday with the ugly loss to Carnegie Mellon.

Here's a link to the complete Top 25 Poll:    http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2016-17/week5 This is the corrected version. 

[magicman]

Cortland 88  Widener 86

The Red Dragons were playing their first game in 16 days and looked a bit out of sync at times. The early part of the first half saw several lead changes but Cortland, down 8-7, took control with a 3 pointer by James Morales and 5 straight points from Justin Cooper to go in front 15-8 with 15:32 left in the half. They held onto the lead for the rest of the period and even though Widener got the lead down to a single possession on several occasions, Cortland was able to score and keep the Pride from getting the equalizer. James Morales was frequently the antagonist as his 4 first half 3 pointers came at opportune times. He led the Red Dragons with 14 points in the opening stanza. If it wasn't Morales doing the damage, it was Justin Cooper who scored 11 points and was 5x5 from the line as Cortland slowly built their lead to double figures. Up 21-19, Cortland got back to back 3's from Morales and then after he made a pair of free throws, they got another 3 pointer from Michael Kelly. Carrel Joseph hit a pair from the stripe and Cortland was up 34-24 with 4:17 on the clock. Still up 39-30 with time ticking down, Morales buried his 4th 3 pointer with 3 seconds on the clock and the Red Dragons went into the locker room up 42-30 at the half.

The Pride stayed within striking distance early in the 2nd period and cut the lead to 8 points at 44-36 with 16:42 left to play. Cortland used a barrage of 3 pointers from Cooper, Joseph, and Kelly to once again take control of the game and jumped in front 57-41 for their largest lead of the game with 13:10 showing on the clock. Widener refused to roll over and Cortland went cold from the field as they missed their next 9 shots. A 12-1 Widener run was the result and the Pride found themselves down just 58-53 with 9:15 remaining. Cortland built it back to a 10 point advantage on a Nicky Bonura jumper and the Red Dragons were still up by 9 at 67-58, with 5 minutes left, after back to back layups by Carrell Joseph. The Pride hit a 3 pointer, then got a 3 point play after Cortland missed a 3 pointer on their end. Once again the Red Dragons came down and settled for a 3 point attempt that was no good and the Pride came down and scored to cut the lead to 1. Seconds later Cortland turned the ball over and Widener scored again and had the lead for the first time since they were up 8-7 early in the game. 2 free throws from Joseph put Cortland back in front but the Pride scored on their possession with 44 seconds to go. James Morales hit a jumper for Cortland with 28 ticks left but the Pride came down and drained a 3 pointer to go up 73-71 with 17 seconds to go. Cortland's Morales missed a 3 pointer with 11 seconds left but Joseph corralled the rebound and was fouled with 9 seconds on the clock. He calmly swished them both to tie the game and Cortland played good defense to prevent the Pride from getting the game winner as time expired.

In overtime the teams went back and forth the entire 5 minutes with 4 lead changes and 4 ties that set the game up for a final possession by the Red Dragons. Cortland was down 86-84 with 37 seconds remaining when Justin Cooper was fouled. He made both free throws to tie the game and at the other end Joseph blocked the Pride's attempt at the go ahead score. Morales got the rebound with 17 seconds left and dribbled the clock down to 4 seconds and threw up a long 3 point attempt that was off the mark. But it was off the mark just right, as it came down perfectly into the hands of Zach Lydon. He wasted no time in putting it back up and in for the game winner with less than a second to go. I think I spotted Coach Spanbauer smiling on the sidlines as that one went through the net

Cortland should have won this game by a comfortable margin. They allowed this team to hang around and it almost cost them a win. The good news is the Red Dragons hung in there and didn't completely fall apart when things went the other way and they lost the lead late in the game. They made some clutch free throws when they had to and of course got a little bit of luck at the end with the Lydon putback.

The Red Dragons
James Morales had 26 points to lead Cortland and also had 8 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal.

Justin Cooper had a double-double with 20 points and a game high 14 rebounds. he added 4 assists and 2 steals.

Carrell Joseph just missed a double-double with 16 points and 9 rebounds.

Michael Kelly had 11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.

Zach Lydon had 9 points, 7 rebounds and 1 assist. And of course that big rebound and putback to end the game.

Justin Prendergast had 4 points and 7 rebounds in just 13 minutes of court time.


The Pride
Sardayah Sambo captured scoring honors with 30 points and completed his double-double with a team high 11 rebounds. He added 5 assists and 3 blocks as well.

Kendall Green had 24 points and 9 rebounds off the bench.

Sam Smith had 18 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists a steal and a block.

Widener outshot the Red Dragons from the field 33x68 (48.5%)  to 26x69 (37.7%) but Cortland made 10x31 (32.3%) from long range to 7x24 (29.2%) for the Pride. The free throw line was the biggest discrepancy as Cortland doubled the Pride from the stripe. The Red Dragons hit 26x30  (86.7%) from the line and the Pride only managed 13x22  (59.1%).

Cortland dominated the boards 53 to 32, but committed 16 turnovers to only 8 for the Pride.

Cortland improves to 8-2 overall (3-1 SUNYAC) and will take on host Johns Hopkins in the Championship game of the Blue Jay Invitational Tournament at 3:00 PM today. The Blue Jays defeated Cazenovia 104-56 (they wanted to make sure they made the championship game of their own tournament) and are now 5-5 overall.                  

[magicman]

Carnegie Mellon 89  Brockport State 66

When Brockport got to Pittsburgh yesterday and got off the bus, they must have left their game in the baggage compartment underneath the bus because I sure didn't see it on display at Skibo Gym. This certainly wasn't the team that I watched back in early December come into Plattsburgh and take down my Cardinals. It's also the 2nd blip on the radar for the Golden Eagles because they lost another game earlier against Hobart that I felt they should have won.

The game against the Tartans yesterday started out as many games do with back and forth action that featured 3 ties and 6 lead changes over the first 10 minutes of play. There were signs of trouble brewing however, as the Tartans were crashing the boards and getting offensive rebounds. They had twice as many boards as Brockport did after one half of the first period. The Golden Eagles were ahead 18-17 with 11:18 left to play in the first half when someone hit the off button. For the next 9 minutes all the offense the Eagles could muster was a single, solitary foul shot. During that nine minutes they missed 12 shots from the field, committed 4 turnovers and 5 fouls. The Tartans meanwhile, were putting 19 points on the board. The score was now 35-18 before the Eagles finally got a basket from the field with 2:27 left in the half. They quickly scored twice more to cut the 17 point deficit down to 11 but the Tartans responded with a pair of baskets and when the Eagles came back again to cut the lead to 11, the Tartans Ryan Maha buried a 3 pointer at the buzzer to carry Carnegie Mellon into the break up 42-28.

Needing to get back into the game quickly after the start of the 2nd period, the Eagles scored 3 times and held the Tartans to a single basket to get the lead down to 10 points. I was hoping  the big comeback had begun, but just like in the first half the Eagles were grounded by a 13-2 Tartan run over the next 4 minutes that boosted the lead to 21 points at 57-36 with 13:36 to go. Brockport went to the line and got a pair of free throws to get it back under 20 points but the Tartans ripped off another 13-0 run and this game was over with 9:24 left to play. The lead was 32 points, the largest of the game and the Tartans coasted to the finish line.

Brockport did manage to have the high scorer in the game as Devonn Gavin pumped in 25 points. He was the only Eagle in double figures.

Brockport was outshot in every category, and were beaten off the glass by a huge margin of 28 boards as they had 26 rebounds to 54 for Carnegie Mellon. The Tartans had nearly as many offensive rebounds...21, as Brockport had total rebounds. The rebounding margin and Brockport's shooting woes were the main reasons this was such a lop sided contest. The Tartans also shot very well...over 53% from the field and 47.4% from distance. The vaunted Brockport pressure defense won the battle of turnovers as they harassed the Tartans into 23 miscues while only committing 15 of their own.

Brockport falls to 8-2 (3-1 YAC) and will be back in action on Friday when they host their annual game against   Liberty League foe, St. Lawrence University. The Larries haven't beaten Brockport in a long time and have lost 7 straight games in this series. The series is 8-2 in Brockport's favor over the last ten years. SLU is off to a good start at 8-1 and already owns wins over Plattsburgh and Potsdam. They will now face Brockport and Oswego State after taking on North Country rival Clarkson tonight.                   

[All-Time]

Happy New Year.

The SUNYAC goes 3-0 today

Cortland over Hopkins
Oneonta over Williams
Plattsburgh over Trinity

It's time for the SUNYAC to show it's muscle.

Enjoy the games

[magicman]

Jan. 3  Three games today involving SUNYAC teams that will all be tough matchups.   

Cortland  at  Johns Hopkins 3:00 PM   Johns Hopkins Invitational Tournament  Championship game

The Red Dragons better have their act together today because I believe this team is better than Widener. They are only 5-5 but have played some decent teams and 4 of the losses are by a combined total of 15 points. Only #5 Salisbury  has beaten them by double figures. The oddsmakers have made the Red Dragons a 1 point road favorite. Cortland should shoot better today than they did yesterday so I think they win this one by a 76-69 final score 

   
Plattsburgh State  at  Trinity (Conn.)        5:00 PM

Plattsburgh is coming off a 23 day layoff and bound to be rusty. Trinity played 2 games over the past weekend and got rid of any rust that had accumulated. I don't like the sound of that. Playing the Bantams in their gym will be challenging enough. To do so after such a period of inactivity could spell trouble for the Cardinals. To make matters worse my guys will be shorthanded tonight. I'm really not happy about that. The oddsmakers have made Plattsburgh a 2 point favorite but if they knew what I know they would probably make Trinity at least a 6 point favorite. Trinity lost 1 of the 2 games they played over the weekend and that was to Eastern Connecticut by a 72-65 score in the championship game of Trinity's Holiday invitational Tournament. I know that Buffalo State beat Eastern Connecticut back on December 18th and we beat Buff State, so if A beats B and B beats C and C beats D then I'm hoping A can beat D even missing a key player. So I'll take the Cardinals (no surprise there) to beat the Bantams by a final score of 76-71.       


Oneonta State  at  Williams        6:00 PM

These Red Dragons have the toughest row to hoe. The Williams College Ephs come into this game fresh off their first national ranking of the year as they moved into the #25 spot of D3hoops Top 25 poll on Monday night  based on their 2 big wins over the past week. On Thursday December 29th they defeated #15 Hope College 91-85 in overtime and then the next day defeated host Mount Union 70-67 to win the championship of the Mount Union M Club Classic Tournament. They extended their record to 10-1 with their sole loss being at the hands of fellow NESCAC school Wesleyan College, currently 11-0. The Ephs will now try and get revenge over the Red Dragons who have won 2 in a row over Williams. Oneonta will try and extend their overall season's winning streak to 6 games. It's the longest Red Dragon winning streak in seven years as you'd have to go all the way back to January of 2010 to find a longer one. Oneonta got a couple of nice wins in Florida but the Ephs will provide a different level of competition than the two Florida games did. The oddsmakers have Williams listed as an 11 point favorite on their home turf. The Ephs are big and bigger. They will replace 6'5" and 6"7" guys with 6'8" and 6'10" guys. They have a solid 9 man rotation with excellent shooters. It's hard to pick the Red Dragons here but I hope they win this game and prove me wrong. I see them coming out on the short end of an 80-72 final score.     

[magicman]

Cortland trails Johns Hopkins by a 16-4 score early in the period but the Red Dragons  manage to pull within a single possession by halftime and trail the Bluejays 40-37.

Andre McGuire and Justin Cooper both have 11 points to lead Cortland. Cooper has 6 rebounds to lead the team.

Sam Gordon has 8 points and Josh Wetzler has 7 for Johns hopkins.

[magicman]

Cortland runs out of luck as they fall to Johns Hopkins by a 68-67 final score.

[magicman]

Plattsburgh looking like they forgot how to play defense as they give up 58 first half points and trail Trinity by a score of 58-40.

Trinity gets 19 first half points from Chris Turnbull who is 7x8 from the field and 5x6 from downtown.

Ed Ogundeko  is close behind with 14 points.

It doesn't matter what Plattsburgh is doing although Isaiah Johnson came in and gave the team some good minutes off the bench with 7 points in limited minutes.

I may have to switch over to the Oneonta-Williams game at 6 PM if this one gets any worse.

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State loses to Trinity by a score of 107-80. Not much good to report about in this game unless you're a Trinity fan.