Despite having four players in double figures today, the SUNY Oneonta men's basketball team fell to Eastern Connecticut State, 101-78, in its final game of the Oneonta Holiday Inn Classic.  Junior Mikey McElroy (Saratoga Springs/Saratoga Springs) led the Red Dragons with 23 points on 11-of-20 shooting.
 
Eastern Connecticut (4-1) didn't miss many shots in the first half, as they raced out to a 48-37 halftime lead.  The Warriors shot 66 percent in the opening half and 60 percent overall in the contest.  They hit 9-of-18 from behind the arc.
 
The two teams exchanged the lead through the first eight minutes.  Trailing 17-16, Trachone Preston hit a jumper for the Warriors that fueled a 9-0, which gave them the lead for good.
 
An old fashioned three-point play by senior Zach Mager (New City/Clarkstown South) cut Oneonta's deficit to five points before Eastern Connecticut pulled away with a 19-4 run.  The Red Dragons closed the final two minutes of the opening half on an 11-4 run to pull to within 11 points at the break.  Senior Frankie Kelly (Brewster/Kennedy Catholic) scored 16 of his 21 points in the opening twenty minutes.  Kelly also collected five assists and four steals in the game.
 
Oneonta (2-1) opened the second half with a quick five points to cut further into the Warriors lead.  Unfortunately, that would be as close as the Red Dragons would get for the rest of the game.  Eastern Connecticut countered with a quick 9-2 spurt to get its lead back to double digits.
 
Mager finished the game with 13 points while classmate Kareem Williams (Bronx/IN-Tech Academy) added 11 points.
 
Newspaper Box Score
E. CONNECTICUT STATE 101, SUNY ONEONTA 78
 
E. CONNECTICUT STATE (4-1)
Kevin Leumene 10-12 7-7 29; Trachone Preston 7-12 7-8 25; Hugh Lindo 8-14 1-2 17; Michael-Thomas Sciro 3-4 2-2 10; Brandon Kuczenski 4-6 0-0 8; Brandon Yarborough 0-1 4-4 4; Collin Jordan 1-2 1-2 3; Tarchee Brown 1-6 0-0 3; David Canny 1-2 0-0 2; Matthew Sterner 0-0 0-0 0; Mitchell Foster 0-0 0-0 0; Alex Borofsky 0-0 0-0 0; Donny Craig 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-59 22-25 101.
 
SUNY ONEONTA (2-1)
MCELROY, Mikey 11-20 0-1 23; KELLY, Frankie 8-14 4-6 21; MAGER, Zach 4-12 5-5 13; WILLIAMS, Kareem 4-7 3-3 11; ZUVIC, Jackson 2-4 0-0 5; DIGNAN, Jack 1-4 0-0 3; THOMSEN, Seth 1-3 0-0 2; MEDINA, Eulogio 0-5 0-0 0; MASSARONI,
Grant 0-0 0-0 0; COLEMAN, Lawrence 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-69 12-15 78.
 
3-point goals--E. Connecticut State 9-18 (Trachone Preston 4-7; Kevin Leumene 2-3; Michael-Thomas Sciro 2-3; Tarchee Brown 1-4; Brandon Yarborough 0-1), SUNY Oneonta 4-16 (ZUVIC, Jackson 1-3; KELLY, Frankie 1-3; MCELROY,
Mikey 1-3; DIGNAN, Jack 1-4; MEDINA, Eulogio 0-2; MAGER, Zach 0-1).
Fouled out--E. Connecticut State-None, SUNY Oneonta-DIGNAN, Jack; WILLIAMS, Kareem.
Rebounds--E. Connecticut State 41 (Kevin Leumene 9), SUNY Oneonta 27 (WILLIAMS, Kareem 4; DIGNAN, Jack 4; KELLY, Frankie 4).
Assists--E. Connecticut State 17 (Hugh Lindo 4; Trachone Preston 4), SUNY Oneonta 13 (KELLY, Frankie 5).
Total fouls--E. Connecticut State 19, SUNY Oneonta 19.
Technical fouls--E. Connecticut State-None, SUNY Oneonta-None.
A-225