For the second time in the last week, the SUNY Oneonta men's basketball team defeated a team ahead of them in the SUNYAC standings in overtime.  Tonight it was rival SUNY Cortland that Oneonta knocked off 78-70.  Oneonta has now won three straight games to raise its overall record to 7-5 and 4-1 in conference play.

Freshman Mikey McElroy (Saratoga Springs/Saratoga Springs) led four Oneonta players in double figures with 19 points.  Sophomore Jackson Zuvic (Cold Spring/Haldane) came off the bench to score 17 points.  Sophomore Jack Dignan (Brewster/Brewster) scored a season high 15 points that included four from long distance while senior Dan Lee (Ballston Lake/Shenendehowa) added 14 points.  Dignan had six of Oneonta's 13 points in the overtime.

Of the 24 baskets made tonight for Oneonta, 15 of them were from long range.  It was the second most three-pointers in program history, falling one shy of 16 set back on Nov. 17, 2012 versus York (Pa) College.  Oneonta attempted 31 in the contest, which was its most since 2004.

The two teams were tied at the end of regulation at 65 apiece, which forced the extra period.  Dignan and McElroy levied the knockout punch in the early going of overtime with back-to-back three-pointers that pushed Oneonta to a 71-65 lead.  Oneonta built its lead to as many as nine points in the extra period, which was its largest of the contest.

Down the stretch in regulation the two teams were tied at 55 apiece when Lamard Herron hit a pair of free throws for Cortland (9-4/4-2 SUNYAC) tp tie the score at the 6:06 mark.

The two teams exchanged three-pointers before Zuvic buried a trey to give Oneonta at 61-58 lead with 3:06 remaining.  Two minutes later, a three-pointer by Garen Spendjian put Cortland ahead 65-63 with just over one minute to go.  On the ensuing possession, Lee made a layup to tie the game with 47 seconds remaining.

Dignan made a steal to give Oneonta one last shot, which was a missed three-pointer by Lee with one second left on the clock.

Oneonta led 9-4 in the first eight minutes before Cortland scored 10 unanswered points to take a 14-9 lead with just over 10 minutes to go in the opening half.  Cortland led by as many as nine points with 7:37 to go before Oneonta closed the half with a 19-11 spurt to close the gap to 33-32 at the break.

Oneonta will be back in action again this Friday night when they host SUNY Potsdam beginning at 8pm.

Newspaper Box Score
SUNY ONEONTA 78, SUNY CORTLAND 70

SUNY ONEONTA (7-5, 4-1 SUNYAC)
McELROY, Mikey 5-10 5-5 19; ZUVIC, Jackson 7-12 0-0 17; DIGNAN, Jack 4-7 3-4 15; LEE, Dan 3-11 6-8 14; THOMSEN, Seth 3-6 0-0 7; MAGER, Zach 2-7 0-0 5; BRINK, Larry 0-1 1-2 1; COLEMAN, Lawrence 0-0 0-2 0; WILLIAMS, Kareem 0-0 0; SEGARRA, Nick 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-55 15-21 78.
SUNY CORTLAND (9-4, 4-2 SUNYAC)
McMAHON, Kevin 8-16 6-8 24; SPENDJIAN, Garen 5-9 1-1 14; HERRON, Lamard 4-18 2-2 12; HEFELE, T.J. 3-12 0-0 6; ESTARFAA, Blair 2-5 1-2 6; McGOWAN, Matt 1-3 1-1 3; FERGUSON, Brendan 1-7 0-0 3; GLASCOE, Tyree 1-2 0-0 2; WILLIAMS, Chris 0-0 0-0 0; KELLY, Michael 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-72 11-14 70.

3-point goals--SUNY Oneonta 15-31 (McELROY, Mikey 4-5; DIGNAN, Jack 4-6; ZUVIC, Jackson 3-6; LEE, Dan 2-6; MAGER, Zach 1-4; THOMSEN, Seth 1-3; SEGARRA, Nick 0-1), SUNY Cortland 9-29 (SPENDJIAN, Garen 3-6; HERRON, Lamard
2-6; McMAHON, Kevin 2-3; ESTARFAA, Blair 1-3; FERGUSON, Brendan 1-5; HEFELE, T.J. 0-6).
Fouled out--SUNY Oneonta-None, SUNY Cortland-None.
Rebounds—SUNY Oneonta 38 (BRINK, Larry 9), SUNY Cortland 43 (McMAHON, Kevin 11).
Assists--SUNY Oneonta 17 (DIGNAN, Jack 5), SUNY Cortland 13 (HEFELE, T.J. 5).
Total fouls--SUNY Oneonta 11, SUNY Cortland 17.
Technical fouls—SUNY Oneonta-None, SUNY Cortland-None.
A-200