MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[AllStar]

[magicman]

Oneonta advances to the Championship game with a convincing 85-72 win over Brockport. Solid game by the Red Dragons who led the entire 2nd half. They maintained a 2 possession lead for the first 11 minutes of the final period and then opened up a double digit lead with 8:33 to go. They were comfortably in front the rest of the way stretching their lead to as many as 15 points as Brockport had to foul.

The Golden Eagles biggest downfall was their inability to make many shots from behind the arc. They were a pitiful 5x30 (16.7%) from long range and you won't win many ballgames with that statistic in your box score. Oneonta only took 10 shots from 3 point range and made 3 of them. Overall Brockport shot 27x79 from the field (34.2%) whil the Red Dragons shot 26x49 (53.1%). That's the story of the game in a nutshell. The Red Dragons also killed Brockport from the line as they went 30x42 (71.4%) to just 13x19 (68.4%) for the Eagles. The referees called a tight game which didn't favor Brockport and their swarming defense. 31 fouls were called on the Eagles to 16 called on Oneonta. Brockport did have a bunch of fouls in the final few minutes to try and get back into the game but they were clearly frustrated by the officials tight calls.


The Red Dragons
Lawrence Coleman captured scoring honors and rebounding honors as he's done a number of  times this year. He had 24 points (8x12 fg, 1x2 3's, 7x11 ft) and completed his double-double with 14 rebounds. He added 3 steals and a block.

Frankie Kelly had 21 points (6x8 fg, 1x2 3's, 8x9 ft), 6 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal.

Mikey McElroy had 14 points 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

Jack Kolosky had 8 rebounds,7 points, a steal, an asssist and a block.

Dwayne Freeman had 9 points, 2 boards and a steal.

Ian Schultz had 6 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist in 16 minutes off the bench.

Harrison Deegan had 4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal in 13 minutes off the bench.


The Golden Eagles
Devonn Gavin lead the team with 20 points (8x18 fg, 2x9 3's, 2x4 ft), 3 rebounds and 2 steals.

Matthew Smith had 12 points (5x11 fg, 1x3 3's, 1x1 ft), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

Marcus Blythers had 11 points and a team high 10 rebounds to get a double-double. He also had 2 steals, an assists and a block.

Hamed Shamseldin had 11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

Clifton Lyerly had 8 points and 3 rebounds.

Oneonta will face Oswego at 4:00 PM on Saturday afternoon for the SUNYAC Championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Red Dragons improve their overall record to 17-10. They need to beat Oswego and win the automatic qualifier to get into the NCAA tournament, because they won't get an at large bid if they lose. They need to play like there is no tomorrow because if they lose, there isn't.

Brockport drops to 19-7 overall and will now see if their season will continue with an at  large bid from the NCAA committee. I'd like to see them get one but I think that a 19-7 record (20-7 would have been so much better) and not making the championship game will be tough to overcome. I sure hope I'm wrong about that.   
It's going to come down to how many top seeds lose in the next few days and how many at large bids the committee hands out to the Northeast region and the Central region. Those regions are going to get a bunch of bids even if all the top seeds win.   

[All-Time]

The Oneonta Red Dragons will beat Oswego today in the SUNYAC Championship.

Brian Sortino carried the Lakers on his back last night and they needed every one of his 48 points to beat Buffalo State.
A shout out to Brian Sortino on a fantastic career at Oswego. He was a clutch performer who came to play every game.

Look for the BIG 3 of McElroy, Coleman and Kelly to carry the Red Dragons to their 1st SUNYAC Championship in a long time.
All 3 have had fantastic careers at Oneonta. Coach Medici was instrumental in getting these guys to Oneonta and he should feel great that they finally got the school a SUNYAC Championship.

The SUNYAC will have 2 teams going to the Dance. Oneonta and Oswego.
Looking for both teams to make a nice run in the Dance.

Congratulations to Coach Cameron and the Red Dragons for a great season.



Enjoy the Game

[magicman]

Oneonta State at Oswego State SUNYAC Championship  4:00 PM

The Lakers' Brian Sortino put on quite a show for his fans last night in Max Ziel GYm. Could he possibly have an encore presentation in him? I've long since became a believer in what he can do as I've watched him beat my Cardinals, in crucial situations, way too many times. Last night wasn't an aberration, it was the norm. If his team needs to score, he usually finds a way to get it done. The Lakers do have some other players who can also play the game and beating them at home will not be an easy thing to do. The oddsmakers have made them a 3 point favorite in this game.

Oneonta is playing excellent ball right now and I think the 4 guys in their final SUNYAC game would like to go out a winner and bring home the first ever Championship banner in Men's basketball. It would also be a nice feather in Coach Conover's cap to win a YAC title in his first year as a head coach. I'm just not sure the Red Dragons can get it done against the home team. But I have a number of reasons I want Oneonta to win this game and the primary one is so we can get 2 entries into the NCAA tournament. So I'm going with the Red Dragons to win, in another close game. Final score, Oneonta 81 Oswego 78.     

[magicman]

Oswego State 53 Oneonta State 38 at the half

Brian Sortino is still in a zone as he puts up 20 first half points to lead all scorers. He scores 10 of those points in the last 3 minutes of the half as he nails back to back 3 pointers in the final 41 seconds to boost a 9 point lead to 15 in the blink of an eye. Sortino is 8x11 from the field and 4x5 from downtown.  I imagine he may do a heat check from just over the time line at some point in the 2nd half. Ian Schupp is also socking it to his old teammates as he has 15 points on 6x9 shooting including 3x4 from long range. Jamir Ferebee has 7 points as well.

The Red Dragons got 11 points from Lawrence Coleman and Frankie Kelly . Mikey McElroy has 10 points and Ian Schultz has 8 rebounds and 4 points.

The Red Dragons need a run to get this game back to a reasonable deficit. Hopefully the guys can respond and maybe the Lakers will come down to earth a bit, but I wouldn't count on that 2nd part happening.   

[AllStar]

[magicman]

SUNYAC Championship

Oswego State 75 Oneonta State 70

Congratulations to The Lakers on their Regular Season Crown and Tournament Championship. Last year you made the Sweet 16. I Hope you go even further this year. Good Luck.

The Lakers broke on top quickly and had a 12-3 lead after 3:30 of the first period. Oneonta almost caught up at 12-10, but Oswego outscored them 13-5 to open up a double digit lead at 25-15 with 12 minutes left. The Lakers now had a comfort zone and that's not a good thing for their opponents. The lead grew to 15 points and just as the Red Dragons were closing some ground, cutting their deficit to 9, with under a minute in the half, Mr.Clutch  buried a pair of 3's, 35 seconds apart and the Lakers trotted off the court with a 53-38 halftime lead. The two 3 pointers gave Sortino 68 points over his last 65 minutes of playoff basketball. That's bigtime ballin.

Oneonta needed to get back into the game quickly to have any chance and they did just that scoring the first 4 points of the half forcing Coach Leone to take a quick time out. That didn't slow them down much as they scored the next 5  points coming out of that TO. Suddenly the lead was only 6 points instead of 15. If at first you don't succeed, take another time out, and that's what Coach Leone did. This time it worked as the Lakers responded with a pair of buckets to build it back to a 10 point lead.

Over the next ten minutes the Lakers' lead fluctuated between 10 and 14 points as the Lakers got contributions from several different players to hold the Red Dragons at bay. But with time running out and Oneonta down 69-56 with under 7 minutes left to play, the Red Dragons' Big Three scored 9 unanswered points, to pull them within 4 points of the Lakers, the last 3 coming on a 3 point play from Mikey McElroy. It was the closest they had been since the 13:16 mark of the first half. The Lakers turned the ball over on their next possession and the Red Dragons had a chance to cut it to a one possession game. McElroy's jumper rimmed out however, which allowed the Lakers come down and score on a drive by who else...Sortino. He was fouled on the play and he hit the free throw to stop the bleeding and make it a 72-65 3 possession lead with 1:53 remaining. That breathing room didn't last long as Oneonta fought back to make it 72-70 on a free throw from Lawrence Coleman, a jumper from McElroy, and a layup from Coleman but time was short and Oneonta had to foul with 13 seconds left. It was a touch of irony that the guy going to the line for the clinching free throws, was a member of the Red Dragons last year. Ian Schupp, who originally played for the Lakers, left, and came back home this year, made both freebies to salt away the championship for Oswego. Oneonta missed their last attempt from the field, went to the line and missed both free throws, with 6 seconds on the clock. Sortino was fouled and he made 1 of 2 for the final points of the game. A valiant comeback effort by the Red Dragons but they just ran out of time. And frankly, the way the Lakers played all weekend, I don't think more time on the clock would have made a difference.

The Lakers
Brian Sortino, most likely the SUNYAC Player of the Year, had 27 points to once again lead all scorers. He added 4 rebounds and 5 assists, along with the Most Valuable Player award of the SUNYAC Tournament. His 48 points the night before against Buffalo State set a Max Ziel Gymnasium record and he was just a point away from tying the highest scoring game in program history. He has been a pleasure (and a pain) to watch over the past 4 years and I wish him well.

Ian Schupp had 22 points, 7 rebounds and 1 assist. Schupp and Sortino combined for 8 of the team's 9 three pointers (4 each) and was a major reason the Lakers walked off the court with the championship trophy. Oneonta was only 4x16 from long range.

Tyler Pierre was a beast off the glass as he had a game high 15 rebounds to go along with his 7 points, 1 assist and a steal. He came off the bench and saw 17 minutes of court time.

Jamir Ferebee had 7 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and a steal.

Keith Tyson had 6 points, 9 boards and a steal.

Mykelle Krecko had 4 points, 8 rebounds and 1 assist.


The Red Dragons
Lawrence Coleman had 23 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, a block and a steal.

Mikey McElroy had 19 points, 6 rebounds and a block.

Frankie Kelly, had 13 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.

Dwayne Freeman had 6 points and 4 rebounds.

Ian Schultz had 4 points, a team high 9 rebounds, a block and a steal.

Jack Kolosky had 4 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks.


Oswego improves their record to 21-6 and will wait for the NCAA's selection show on Monday at 12:30 to find out who their next opponent will be. I hope they get to host a 4 team pod on the first weekend. I'm pretty sure Rochester will host and possibly St. John Fisher may get sent there. If Brockport gets a bid (they're on the bubble) they may go to Rochester as well. Union could go to Oswego and then there's St. Lawrence and possibly Skidmore. I'm not sure if the Liberty League would get 3 bids. I know the SUNYAC won't. And the YAC may not get 2 but I have my fingers crossed that Brockport gets one. There will be lots of fingers crossed in Brockport on Monday around lunchtime.

Oneonta's season comes to an end with a 17-11 record. I don't know if they intend to play in the ECAC tournament.         

[magicman]

The SUNYAC will hand out the Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year and All Conference teams shortly. Here's who I think they may have on the short list.

Player of the Year   Brian Sortino  Oswego State
Really a no brainer. He could have been Player of the Year as a sophomore or junior and probably wouldn't have been much of an argument if he had

Coach of the Year  Cameron Conover Oneonta
I'm leaning toward Coach Conover because it was his first year as a head coach and his team did well finishing in 3rd place. Making the championship game was an added bonus. I don't think anyone had the Red Dragons finishing that high in the standings or playing for all the marbles. If they did, it was a different variety of Red Dragons they were thinking of. It won't surprise me if Coach Jason Leone gets the award because the victors usually get the spoils and it was his 3rd SUNYAC crown in 6 years. Either coach is deserving of this award.

Rookie of the Year Danny Delsol-Lowry  Potsdam State
Danny a 6'1" freshman started all 25 games as the point guard for the Bears and handled that job as if he was a college veteran. He scored 228 points for the season which was an average of 9.1 ppg,  and was 4th on the team in scoring. His 5.4 rpg led the team in rebounding. He also led the team with 66 assists, 36 steals and minutes per game with 27.8. He leads every rookie in the conference in just about all these categories if not all of them.
The other top rookies this year to make my all rookie team.
Justin Summers   Brockport State  Forward
Kevin Mackin        Oneonta State    Guard
Tommy Eastman  Geneseo State    Guard
Nick Arthur          New Paltz State   Forward

All Conference in alphabetical order by team
Clifton Lyerly            Brockport State  Guard
Hamed Shamseldin  Brockport State  Guard
DevonnGavin            Brockport State  Guard
Lovell Smith             Buffalo State       Guard
Mike Henry               Buffalo State      Guard
Justin Cooper           Cortland State    Guard
James Morales         Cortland State     Guard
Ian Helps                 Fredonia State    Forward
Justin Ringen           Geneseo State     Guard
John Decker            Geneseo State      Guard
Andrew Seniuk        New Paltz St.       Forward
Lawrence Coleman  Oneonta State      Forward
Mikey McElroy         Oneonta State      Forward
Frankie Kelly           Oneonta State      Guard
Brian Sortino          Oswego State       Guard
Jamir Ferebee         Oswego State      Forward
Mykelle Krecko        Oswego State     
Jon Patron              Plattsburgh St.     Forward
Eli Bryant               Plattsburgh St.     Guard
Nosa Onabor          Potsdam State      Guard

[magicman]

Hoopsville did their mock projection last evening of the 21 Pool C bids that they think will be awarded later today. Here's the link to their complete list: http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4232.7125

They have Rochester 21-4, as the 4th Pool C selection, Skidmore 19-7, the 14th selection and St. Lawrence 20-6 as the 15th selection.

Brockport with a 19-7 record became the next team from the East region at the table after St. Lawrence was chosen. They sat at the table for the final 6 rounds and were never selected in this projection. Brockport lost out to Skidmore and St. Lawrence because those teams were ranked ahead of the Golden Eagles in the final Regional Rankings that Hoopsville had received yesterday.

Defending National Champion St.Thomas also had a 19-7 record and they were at the table at the same time Brockport was and they don't have them getting a bid either. In fact St. Thomas was at the table for 14 rounds as they were the 2nd ranked team from the West region. Whitworth from the West was selected in the 7th round and the Tommies took their seat. They never left the table as the West only got 1 Pool C bid in this projection.

We have to hope the NCAA selection committee uses slightly different logic than the Hoopsville crew did or the SUNYAC will only have 1 team in the tournament this weekend. I don't think that will happen. The SUNYAC got hurt when Skidmore or St. Lawrence didn't win the Liberty League and when Rochester lost the AQ from the UAA conference to Washington U. 

Brockport also didn't help their own cause when they failed to win a playoff game and get to 20 wins. 

They show 5 teams from the NESCAC getting bids. Middlebury won the AQ and Tufts, Williams, Wesleyan and Amherst get Pool C bids.

They have 7 teams out of 21 selections coming out of the Northeast region. Babson losing yesterday popped someone's bubble.  That leaves 14 picks left for the other 7 regions. They have the East region getting 3 picks. I don't think it's possible we can get a 4th pick from our region. 

It sure looks like the YAC only has 1 bid this year. That's why I wanted Oneonta to win against Oswego yesterday. I thought that was the only way we could get a 2nd team dancing.   

[Bengalsrule]

SUNYAC gets 1 f**king bid and Liberty league gets 3??   Some one wake me up when October 15th gets


GOOD LUCk OSWEGO.. Carry the YAC Banner. Here's to hoping that you crush every (fill in the blank)  there is on your way to Salem!!

[pg04]

SUNYAC gets 1 f**king bid and Liberty league gets 3??   Some one wake me up when October 15th gets


GOOD LUCk OSWEGO.. Carry the YAC Banner. Here's to hoping that you crush every (fill in the blank)  there is on your way to Salem!!

I'm not too surprised. The chance for a 2nd was lost when Oswego won the conference tourney and Brockport lost to Oneonta. Liberty League had a surprise champion did they not? (I'm just catching up here).

[magicman]

SUNYAC gets 1 f**king bid and Liberty league gets 3??   Some one wake me up when October 15th gets


GOOD LUCk OSWEGO.. Carry the YAC Banner. Here's to hoping that you crush every (fill in the blank)  there is on your way to Salem!!

I been telling you for over a month that possibility was out there. Why so shocked? If the SUNYAC AD's allowed the top 8 teams in the conference to participate in the playoffs, like they used to, then there's a good chance that Brockport would have gotten to 20 wins because they would have won a first round game against the #7 seed. 20 wins would have given them a Pool C bid I believe. When the AD's voted to only allow the top 6 seeds in the YAC tournament they didn't help our chances of getting a 2nd bid, they hurt our chances. Somehow they still haven't figured that out.

Thought that Oswego might host a pod but they put both of the two New York hosting sites basically in Rochester.  St. John Fisher was ranked higher in the regional rankings than the Lakers were, so they got to host. Rochester University, the #1 team in the East region is the other host.

Lakers traveling to Williams to face Scranton and most likely Williams if they win their game against the Royals. Scranton and Oswego with identical 21-6 records. Should be a good game.

pg04,
Yes a surprise in the Liberty League as the 3rd seed Union won the AQ. That cost us a bid I believe.
 

[Bengalsrule]

SUNYAC gets 1 f**king bid and Liberty league gets 3??   Some one wake me up when October 15th gets


GOOD LUCk OSWEGO.. Carry the YAC Banner. Here's to hoping that you crush every (fill in the blank)  there is on your way to Salem!!

I'm not too surprised. The chance for a 2nd was lost when Oswego won the conference tourney and Brockport lost to Oneonta. Liberty League had a surprise champion did they not? (I'm just catching up here).

So it doesn't seem strange that Brockport, who beat St Lawrence, and lost in the semi (as did St. lawrence) didn't get in ahead of St lawrence?? 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

SUNYAC gets 1 f**king bid and Liberty league gets 3??   Some one wake me up when October 15th gets


GOOD LUCk OSWEGO.. Carry the YAC Banner. Here's to hoping that you crush every (fill in the blank)  there is on your way to Salem!!

I'm not too surprised. The chance for a 2nd was lost when Oswego won the conference tourney and Brockport lost to Oneonta. Liberty League had a surprise champion did they not? (I'm just catching up here).

So it doesn't seem strange that Brockport, who beat St Lawrence, and lost in the semi (as did St. lawrence) didn't get in ahead of St lawrence??

I thought St. Lawrence had a considerably better resume than Brockport, but evidently the committee disagreed.  They picked St. Lawrence 2nd to last and Cabrini last - which means they took St. Thomas earlier and  I thought Brockport and St. Thomas were near identical resumes.  It all goes to show you its a crap shoot near the end.

[stlawus]

SLU beat Oswego in Oswego, something Brockport didn't do.