The visiting Hamilton Continentals used an 18-8 run over the final three minutes tonight in stealing an 87-84 victory against SUNY Oneonta in the home opener for the Red Dragons.  The run began with six points by Hamilton (2-1) at the 3:31 mark with a free throw by Matt Hart, who then capped the spurt with a three-point basket 10 seconds later to pull the Continentals to within 76-75.

From that point it was back-and-forth before a layup by Joseph Lin broke an 82 all tie and gave Hamilton the lead for good with 34 seconds remaining.

Oneonta carried a 45-39 lead into halftime, thanks to 17 first half points by junior Zach Mager (New City/Clarkstown South).  Mager would lead all scorers tonight with 27 points.  This is the third straight game that Mager has scored more than 20 points, as he is currently averaging 26.3 points per game in the early going.

A three-point basket by Mager at the 14:46 mark of the second half gave Oneonta (1-2) its largest lead at 60-50.

Hamilton kept battling back and cut Oneonta's lead to five points when Hart hit a pair of free throws at 5:39.  That was as close as the Continentals got until the six unanswered that brought them to with one point with 3:21 remaining.

Hart led three Hamilton players in double figures with 20 points.  Senior Greg Newton scored 19 points and junior Bradley Gifford added 17 points and a game high 10 rebounds.

Mager was joined by freshman Mikey McElroy (Saratoga Springs/Saratoga Springs) (16 pts), senior Dan Lee (Ballston Lake/Shenendehowa) (13 pts) and sophomore Jack Dignan (Brewster/Brewster) (11 pts) in double figures.  McElroy added a team high eight rebounds while Dignan dished out a team high eight assists.

Newspaper Box Score
HAMILTON 87, SUNY ONEONTA 84

HAMILTON (2-1)
Matt Hart 6-13 5-6 20; Greg Newton 7-15 5-8 19; Bradley Gifford 7-10 3-5 17; Joseph Lin 3-6 1-2 9; Jack Donnelly 3-5 1-1 8; Peter Kazickas 4-10 0-0 8; Matt Dean 1-4 1-2 4; Ajani Santos 1-2 0-0 2; Wes Wilbur 0-0 0-0 0; Kyle Pitman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-65 16-24 87.

SUNY ONEONTA (1-2)
MAGER, Zach 9-16 4-4 27; McELROY, Mikey 5-12 6-8 16; LEE, Dan 3-6 5-6 13; DIGNAN, Jack 2-10 7-8 11; WILLIAMS, Kareem 1-2 5-5 7; MASSARONI, Grant 2-4 0-0 4; THOMSEN, Seth 1-2 0-2 3; BRINK, Larry 1-2 0-0 2; ZUVIC, Jackson 0-1 1-1 1; HOOKS, Chris 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-55 28-34 84.

3-point goals--Hamilton 7-16 (Matt Hart 3-4; Joseph Lin 2-4; Matt Dean 1-1; Jack Donnelly 1-2; Peter Kazickas 0-1; Bradley Gifford 0-1; Greg Newton 0-3), SUNY Oneonta 8-18 (MAGER, Zach 5-7; LEE, Dan 2-3; THOMSEN, Seth 1-1; MASSARONI, Grant 0-2; DIGNAN, Jack 0-4; McELROY, Mikey 0-1).

Fouled out--Hamilton-None, SUNY Oneonta-ZUVIC, Jackson; DIGNAN, Jack.
Rebounds--Hamilton 36 (Bradley Gifford 10), SUNY Oneonta 38 (McELROY, Mikey 8).
Assists--Hamilton 12 (Greg Newton 6), SUNY Oneonta 15 (DIGNAN, Jack 8).
Total fouls--Hamilton 27, SUNY Oneonta 21.
Technical fouls--Hamilton-None, SUNY Oneonta-ZUVIC, Jackson.
A-370