After a back-and-forth affair, the SUNY Oneonta men's basketball team fell to rival Cortland tonight 64-56. The loss drops Oneonta to 13-8 overall and 8-6 in the SUNYAC, while the Cortland victory allows them to leapfrog Oneonta in the SUNYAC standings with their record of 9-5 while moving to 15-6 overall.
 
Senior Mikey McElroy (Saratoga Springs/Saratoga Springs) led three players in double figures for Oneonta.  He scored 20 points on 9-of-18 shooting.  Classmate Jackson Zuvic (Cold Spring/Haldane) added 12 points while junior Lawrence Coleman (Croton on the Hudson/Hendrick Hudson) collected 11 points and 12 rebounds.
 
Neither team shot particularly well in this one with Oneonta, leading the team at nearly 50 percent from the field, shot a season low 33 percent while Cortland 38 percent.  The biggest difference in tonight's game was the play of the Cortland reserves, as they outscored Oneonta's bench 33-10.  JP Reagan led Cortland's bench with 10 points in 19 minutes.
 
Oneonta's largest lead in the contest was eight points (17-9), which came in the first half when sophomore Ian Schupp (New Hampton/Goshen) buried a three-pointer.  By the end of the half, Cortland had turned the tables and took a 25-21 lead into the locker room.
 
A jumper by McElroy less than four minutes into the second half knotted the game at 34 apiece.
 
The two teams would take turns with the lead until a 6-0 spurt by the visitors gave them the lead for good with 6:57 remaining in the contest.  Oneonta got as close as four points on three separate occasions, the final time coming at the 1:32 mark when Zuvic hit a three-pointer.
 
Carrel Joseph led Cortland with 14 points.  He made four of Cortland's eight shots from behind the arc.
 
Oneonta takes on Brockport at home on Friday, February 12 in the Dewar Arena beginning at 7:30pm.