The SUNY Oneonta men's basketball team faced Buffalo State today with the final SUNYAC tournament berth on the line.  Unfortunately for the Red Dragons, the Bengals pulled away late in the second half enroute to a 96-86 win to capture the No. 6 seed for the conference playoffs that begin Tuesday.  The loss for Oneonta ended its season with an overall record of 14-11 and 9-9 in the SUNYAC.
 
Oneonta entered the final weekend needing to win both of its games.  The Red Dragons took care of Fredonia last night, 75-59, to set up the showdown with the Bengals today.
 
In today's game, Buffalo State broke open an otherwise close game midway through the second half with a pair of runs that pushed its lead to as many as 15 points with just over two minutes remaining in the contest.
 
Junior Lawrence Coleman (Croton on the Hudson/Hendrick Hudson) had a monster game with 24 points and 17 rebounds to lead Oneonta.  Mikey McElroy (Saratoga Springs/Saratoga Springs) added 20 points and senior Jack Dignan (Brewster/Brewster) ended his career with 13 points and 10 assists.
 
The game for the Bengals was won today with its reserves, in the paint and on the fast break.  Buffalo's bench players outscored Oneonta's 49-16 while recording 54 points in the paint and 30 points on the fast break.  Buffalo had three players score 20+ points in the contest.
 
In last night's win against Fredonia, Oneonta took control of the game early and ran to a 36-23 lead at halftime.  The Red Dragon reserves had a solid outing with 31 points led by sophomore Ian Schupp (New Hampton/Goshen)'s 13 points.
 
Coleman scored 13 points while McElroy added 12 points and senior Jackson Zuvic (Cold Spring/Haldane) contributed 11 points.