The magical run for the SUNY Oneonta men's basketball came to an end today in the championship game of the SUNYAC tournament versus Plattsburgh 93-80.  Playing in the title game for a second straight year, the Red Dragons left it all on the floor battling the top-seeded Cardinals to the final minutes of the contest.
 
"We battled all game," said Head Coach Cameron Conover.  "We left everything out there.  I am really proud of this team."
 
Oneonta (14-14) shot nearly 52 percent from the floor in the game including 8-of-17 from behind the arc.  Playing in his final game as a Red Dragon, senior Dwayne Freeman (Schenectady/Notre-Dame Bishop Gibbons) led four players in double figures with 19 points.  Freeman made 8-of-12 shots in the game while dishing out four assists.
 
Sophomore Harrison Deegan (Putnam Valley/Putnam Valley) and freshman Joseph Bull (Bronx/Mount St. Michael) combined to score 27 points off the bench and sophomore Carson Jacobs (Buchanan/Hendrick Hudson) added 11 points.  Bull led the Red Dragons with eight rebounds while Jacobs grabbed seven boards.
 
Statistically, the game was even.  The biggest advantages for Plattsburgh (22-4), which proved to be the difference in the end, was in rebounding and free throw shooting.  The Cardinals collected 44 rebounds including 15 on the offensive end while outscoring Oneonta from the line 19-6, which was the final margin of victory.
 
Oneonta held the early lead before Plattsburgh came back to take its first lead 14-13 on a three-pointer by Zack Coleman at the 14:24 mark of the first half.  A layup by Freeman tied the score at 18 apiece before the Cardinals went on a 9-2 run to open up a seven point lead midway through the opening half.
 
Plattsburgh's lead held firm at seven points late before the Red Dragons scored six unanswered to pull within 37-36 on a layup by Deegan with 3:09 remaining.  The Cardinals took a 42-39 lead into halftime.
 
A three-pointer by sophomore Kevin Mackin (Nanuet/Nanuet) to start the second half tied the game for the fourth time.  The two teams went back-and-forth tying the score seven more times in first seven minutes.  The final tie came at 63 apiece at exactly the 13-minute mark on a layup by Deegan.
 
A free throw by Eric Mack gave the Cardinals the lead for good.  Midway through the half, Plattsburgh still led by a point before scoring 10 unanswered points over a four-minute stretch creating its biggest cushion of 11 points.  Oneonta could never get any closer than five points, as the Cardinals made its free throws down the stretch to secure its automatic NCAA berth.
 
Conover concluded, "Our guys continued to improve throughout the season and we played our best basketball when it mattered.  It hurts a great deal, and my biggest disappointment is I don't get to see these guys in a basketball capacity on Monday.  I really enjoyed seeing them every day at practice."