Box Score Box Score
SUNY Oneonta junior #
Brian Hooks (Cohoes/Shaker)# came off the bench to score 18 points to lead the host Red Dragons to a 75-58 win against its rival Red Dragons from Cortland tonight in a key conference game. The win for Oneonta (19-5/12-5) was its seventh straight victory and keeps them in the hunt for the conference crown that will come down to the final weekend of play. The 19 wins for Oneonta is also the most wins for the men's basketball program since 1976-77 when the team won 21 games en route to playing in the national championship game.
Oneonta's win coupled with a Brockport loss tonight against Buffalo State puts the Red Dragons in first place by a half game.
The hosts came out of the locker room after halftime and built its six-point lead to 12 points in the first three minutes. Junior #
Troy Talbot (Brooklyn/The School for Legal Studies)# scored seven of his 17 points in the game during t#he opening run.
Oneonta's lead ballooned to 16 points at the 9:17 mark on a layup by senior
Brian Beckford (Brooklyn/Christ the King)#. Beckford finished the game with 15 points and four assists.
Cortland (14-9/10-6) only got as close as 10 points the rest of the way. Freshman Jeremy Smith (Bronx/Riverdale Kingsbridge) led three Cortland players in double figures with 15 points.
Oneonta got off to a quick start in tonight's game. They built themselves a 16-6 lead punctuated by a dunk from senior #
Kevin Walsh (Middletown/Minisink Valley)#. Classmate #
Ryan Greene (Cobleskill/Cobleskill-Richmondville)# aided the early cause scoring all seven of his first half points in the opening run for Oneonta.
Cortland began to chip away at the lead and cut it to one point at 26-25 at the 5:35 mark on a three-point basket by Smith.
Hooks led all scorers in the opening half with 12 points on 4-for-4 from behind the arc. As a team the hosts hit 6-of-8 from long range.
Oneonta will end the regular season this Friday night on the road at New Paltz for a SUNYAC contest beginning at 8:00 p.m.
