The SUNY Oneonta men's basketball team built itself a 20-point halftime lead en route to an 89-73 victory tonight against SUNY Geneseo in the quarterfinals for the SUNYAC tournament.  Oneonta (16-10) will now make its first trip to the semifinals since 2010 where they will face the No. 2 seeded Brockport Golden Eagles on Friday night at 5:30pm at Oswego.
 
"The guys came out with great defensive intensity tonight," said Head Coach Cameron Conover.  "Playing great defense takes hard work and our guys showed great toughness and discipline.  We look forward to getting back to work tomorrow and preparing for a very good Brockport team."
 
For the second straight game, the trio of graduate student Frankie Kelly (Brewster/Kennedy Catholic) and seniors Mikey McElroy (Saratoga Springs/Saratoga Springs) and Lawrence Coleman (Croton on the Hudson/Hendrick Hudson) scored at least 20 points to lead Oneonta.  Coleman led with 22 points followed by McElroy and Kelly who both scored 20 points.
 
The Red Dragons finished the contest shooting 52 percent including 67 percent in the second half.  They also made a season high 11 three-pointers including eight in the first half on 22 attempts.
 
Oneonta's defensive pressure forced Geneseo (14-12) into some bad shots in the first half, which allowed them to build its big lead at intermission.  Oneonta controlled the defensive boards that led to a final advantage of 42-30 overall.  Coleman and classmate Jack Kolosky (Fishkill/Our Lady of Lourdes) each grabbed 10 boards.
 
The game was tied just once at 2-2 before Oneonta grabbed the lead for good on a three-pointer by Kolosky.  Oneonta had three runs in the first half of 8-0, 10-0 and another at 8-0, as they poured it on the visitors.  One more 9-0 run late in the second half secured the victory for the Red Dragons.
 
Senior Justin Ringen led Geneseo tonight with a game high 26 points.  Classmates Jack Eisenberg and John Decker added 18 points and 12 points respectively.
 
Freshman Kevin Mackin (Nanuet/Nanuet) contributed 11 points off the bench for the Red Dragons.