The SUNY Oneonta men's basketball team nearly erased a 33-point deficit in the final 14 minutes of today's regular season finale before succumbing to Plattsburgh 92-82.  The Red Dragons got as close as seven points with 1:36 remaining, but couldn't climb all the way back in the final minute.
 
Oneonta finishes the regular season with an overall record of 15-10 and 12-6 in the SUNYAC earning the No. 3 seed for the conference tournament that begins on Tuesday night at home for the Red Dragons.  Oneonta will host SUNY Geneseo with the tip-off scheduled for 5:30pm.  Admission to the game is $5 general, $3 children 5-12, and free for children under five and SUNY students with their college ID.
 
Oneonta dug themselves a hole in the first half shooting 36 percent, which is well below their 50 percent for the season.  For Plattsburgh (10-15, 9-9 SUNYAC), it was the opposite, as they shot 54 percent overall including 8-of-14 from behind the arc.
 
Senior Lawrence Coleman (Croton on the Hudson/Hendrick Hudson) completed a three-point play at the 11:17 mark of the first half to pull Oneonta to within four points at 18-14.  Plattsburgh then seized control of the contest scoring 17 unanswered points over the next four minutes to take a commanding 35-14 lead.  Chris Middleton and Isaiah Hill led the charge with five points each.
 
The Cardinals cooled off a bit towards the end of the opening half, but increased its lead to 26 points at 51-25 heading into halftime.
 
The two squads exchanged runs throughout the first ten minutes of the second half.  Oneonta was unable to make any dent in Plattsburgh's lead still trailing by 29 points with 9:54 left in the game.
 
Over the next six minutes, the Red Dragons caught fire putting together a 27-9 run that ended with a Coleman three-pointer from the corner.  That basket capped an 8-0 spurt that came on the heels of a 7-1 burst.  Oneonta had cut Plattsburgh's lead to 10 points with 4:01 remaining.
 
Coleman made the layup at 1:36 to bring Oneonta back to within seven points at 82-75.  Plattsburgh had one more 6-0 run in the last minute to pull away en route to the 10-point victory.
 
The Cardinals had five players reach double figures in the game today led by sophomore Jonathan Patron's game high 24 points.
 
Coleman finished the game with 21 points as did graduate student Frankie Kelly (Brewster/Kennedy Catholic) while senior Mikey McElroy (Saratoga Springs/Saratoga Springs) added 20 points.