Graduate student Frankie Kelly (Brewster/Kennedy Catholic) made a lay-up with 3.2 seconds remaining on the clock to give the SUNY Oneonta men's basketball team a come-from-behind, 89-88, victory at SUNY Geneseo today.  Oneonta (2-4, 1-1 SUNYAC) erased a double-digit deficit in the final 10 minutes to grab its initial conference win of the season.
 
The Red Dragons trailed by as many as 16 points in the contest and actually had its only lead of the game when it counted, at the end.
 
"Wow! That was fun," exclaimed Head Coach Cameron Conover.  "It's about playing defense and getting stops.  Our guys started playing great defense at the end of the first half. We held them without a field goal for the last 5:38 of the first half. I just told the guys at halftime that if they give that same effort for the next 20 minutes, I'll be proud of them regardless of what the scoreboard says. I also told them that if they give that effort for the whole second half, then we were going to win the game."
 
Trailing 76-61 with 10:18 to go in the second half, senior Mikey McElroy (Saratoga Springs/Saratoga Springs) converted a tip-in to jump-start the Red Dragons.
 
A pair of free throws by freshman Ian Schultz (Clifton Park/CBA) at 9:14 chipped two more points of the deficit.  The two teams exchanged empty trips over the next couple of minutes before senior Lawrence Coleman (Croton on the Hudson/Hendrick Hudson) made a lay-up to cut the deficit to under double digits for the first time since the 15:07 mark of the half.
 
Oneonta still trailed by nine points with just under five minutes remaining before making its final push to victory.  Led by some clutch shooting and strong rebounding on the defensive end, the Red Dragons put together a 12-3 run to close the game.
 
Junior Dwayne Freeman (Schenectady/Notre-Dame Bishop Gibbons) hit a big three-pointer to bring Oneonta to within six points at 3:22.  Coleman and classmate Jack Kolosky (Fishkill/Our Lady of Lourdes) made lay-ups on back-to-back possessions to pull Oneonta to within a bucket at 86-84.
 
The final points for Geneseo (4-2, 1-1 SUNYAC) came at 1:52 by John Decker who made a pair of free throws to make the score 88-84.  Decker led all scorers in the game with 27 points.
 
After McElroy made 1-of-2 free throws, Geneseo had two straight possessions in the final minute after earning an offensive rebound off a miss lay-up by Decker.
 
Out of a timeout, Decker missed a three-pointer and the rebound was secured by McElroy with 12 seconds left.  Oneonta called a timeout to set their play, which had to go the full length of the court.  The ball was inbounded to Kelly who brought the ball over half court and eventually drove left to hit the game-winner.  Kelly, who finished the contest with 12 points, scored six of Oneonta's final 12 points including the last four points.
 
Coleman led Oneonta with 19 points followed by McElroy's 18 points.  Kolosky chipped in 14 points giving the Red Dragons four players in double figures.
 
Oneonta shot 55 percent from the floor including 62 percent in the second half during its comeback.  The Red Dragons dominated in the paint outscoring Geneseo 52-32.
 
Conover concluded, "There's a lot we can learn from this game. Our guys showed tremendous heart and toughness. These guys earned this win."
 
Oneonta will be home on Tuesday night for a SUNYAC game against Oswego beginning at 5:30pm.