The SUNY Oneonta men's basketball team lives to play another day.
 
Tonight, the Red Dragons knocked off No. 2 seeded Brockport 82-77 in the SUNYAC tournament semifinals to put themselves into the conference championship game for a second consecutive year.  The Red Dragons will now face top-seeded and host Plattsburgh tomorrow afternoon at 4pm for a berth in the NCAA tournament.  Oneonta and Plattsburgh have met previously for the conference title in 2010 coming up short 67-60.

"Our team is learning quickly what playoff basketball is all about," said Head Coach Cameron Conover.  "We played tough, hard-nosed defense and made several winning plays tonight.  We are excited to be playing for a championship tomorrow."
 
Sophomore Kevin Mackin (Nanuet/Nanuet) led four players in double figures tonight with 18 points.  Mackin made 6-of-10 shots including 4-of-6 from behind the arc.
 
Joining Mackin were classmates Carson Jacobs (Buchanan/Hendrick Hudson) (13 pts), Harrison Deegan (Putnam Valley/Putnam Valley) (11 pts) and freshman Joseph Bull (Bronx/Mount St. Michael) (13 pts).  Bull and Deegan continue to lead the reserves scoring their points off the bench.  Bull also grabbed eight rebounds (5 offensive) while converting 5-of-6 free throws.
 
A three-pointer by Mackin at the 18:35 mark of the opening half gave Oneonta (14-13) its first lead of the game at 5-4.  A layup by Jacobs two minutes later gave them the lead for good.  The Red Dragons built its lead to six points on a couple of occasions during the first half, but Brockport (19-8) kept coming back.  A three-pointer by Dwayne Daniel brought the Golden Eagles to within one point at 28-27 with just over two minutes to go.  An old fashion three-point play by freshman Andres Rivera (Bronx/Walton) gave Oneonta a 31-27 lead at halftime.
 
Oneonta's lead hovered around five points for the first five minutes of the second half before a 13-6 burst gave them its largest lead of 12 points midway through.  The run started with a four-point play by Mackin who was fouled on a three-pointer.  The run was capped with another three, this time by Jacobs.
 
Brockport put together two more attempts to get even, but never got as close as five points.  The Red Dragons were able to counter both of Brockport's comebacks holding them off down the stretch.  Oneonta converted 9-of-10 free throws in the final minute and the Golden Eagles made a couple of threes late to make the score closer when the buzzer sounded.
 
The Red Dragons shot just under 50 percent for the game making 27-of-56 shots.  They made 23 foul shots to Brockport's nine and controlled the glass 45-34.  Freshman point guard Sean Nolan (Voorheesville/Voorheesville) led Oneonta with 10 boards while sophomore Ian Schultz (Clifton Park/CBA) added nine rebounds.

Postgame Press Conference