A valiant second half comeback fell just short for the SUNY Oneonta men's basketball team as they fell, 72-67, to rival SUNY Cortland. With the game tied at 65 apiece with 1:53 remaining in the game, it was the visiting SUNY Cortland Red Dragons that pulled out the victory down the stretch. The loss for Oneonta dropped its season record to 8-7 overall and 5-3 in the SUNYAC while Cortland moves to 10-6 overall and 5-4 in conference play.
After a pair of free throws by senior Dan Lee (Ballston Lake/Shenendehowa) tied the game at 65, Cortland sophomore Kevin McMahon drained a three from the top of the key to put Cortland ahead 68-65.
The two teams exchanged turnovers before Lee made a layup to pull Oneonta to 68-67 with 32 seconds left.
After an Oneonta timeout, Mikey McElroy (Saratoga Springs/Saratoga Springs) committed the foul to put Lamard Herron on the line with 16 seconds to go. Herron made both free throws to push the lead back to three points.
On Oneonta's ensuing possession, Lee drove to the basket and missed a layup, but got his own rebound and sent a pass out to Zach Mager (New City/Clarkstown South), who had a look at a tying three-pointer, but came up short.
McMahon made a pair of free throws for the final margin of victory. McMahon finished the game with 19 points while Herron led all scorers with 22 points.
Oneonta had four players in double figures led by Mager's 20 points. McElroy finished with 15 points while sophomores Jack Dignan (Brewster/Brewster) and Jackson Zuvic (Cold Spring/Haldane) scored 11 and 10 points respectively.
The lead went back-and-forth through the first five minutes of the game, settling in at 17-17 when Zuvic made a jumper for Oneonta at the 12:33 mark. Cortland asserted itself with an 11-2 run to open up a nine-point lead when Herron completed a three-point play.
Cortland shot 67 percent in the opening half and took a 41-33 lead into halftime. Herron led all scorers in the half with 11 points. Cortland finished the game shooting 62.5 percent.
Oneonta will be home again this Friday night when they host Brockport beginning at 8pm.
Newspaper Box Score
SUNY CORTLAND 72, SUNY ONEONTA 67
SUNY CORTLAND (10-6/5-4 SUNYAC)
HERRON, Lamard 9-14 3-3 22; McMAHON, Kevin 8-11 2-2 19; McGOWAN, Matt 6-8 1-3 13; HEFELE, T.J. 2-4 1-2 5; GLASCOE, Tyree 1-5 2-2 4; SPENDJIAN, Garen 2-2 0-0 4; KELLY, Michael 1-3 1-1 3; FELDER, Terrence 1-1 0-0 2; ESTARFAA, Blair 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-48 10-13 72.
SUNY ONEONTA (8-7/5-3 SUNYAC)
MAGER, Zach 7-9 4-6 20; McELROY, Mikey 6-11 2-3 15; DIGNAN, Jack 4-8 1-2 11; ZUVIC, Jackson 5-9 0-0 10; LEE, Dan 1-4 3-4 5; WILLIAMS, Kareem 1-4 2-2 4; THOMSEN, Seth 0-2 2-2 2; BRINK, Larry 0-1 0-0 0; HOOKS, Chris 0-0 0-0 0; SEGARRA, Nick 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-50 14-19 67.
3-point goals--SUNY Cortland 2-11 (HERRON, Lamard 1-4; McMAHON, Kevin 1-3; HEFELE, T.J. 0-2; KELLY, Michael 0-2), SUNY Oneonta 5-17 (MAGER, Zach 2-3; DIGNAN, Jack 2-4; McELROY, Mikey 1-5; THOMSEN, Seth 0-1; SEGARRA, Nick 0-1; LEE, Dan 0-1; ZUVIC, Jackson 0-2).
Fouled out--SUNY Cortland-None, SUNY Oneonta-None.
Rebounds--SUNY Cortland 24 (HERRON, Lamard 8), SUNY Oneonta 25 (McELROY, Mikey 7).
Assists--SUNY Cortland 4 (KELLY, Michael 2), SUNY Oneonta 14 (LEE, Dan 7).
Total fouls--SUNY Cortland 19, SUNY Oneonta 16.
Technical fouls--SUNY Cortland-None, SUNY Oneonta-None.
A-730
