BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Oneonta men's basketball team had four double-digit scorers on the way to an 87-68 SUNYAC victory over Buffalo State on Friday evening. Oneonta moves to 5-7 overall and 2-3 in the SUNYAC, while the Bengals fall to 0-12 and 0-5 in the conference.

"I thought we came out with a good focus to start the game," said head coach Cameron Conover. "From there, we made enough plays to win the game. We are happy with the victory and will continue to get better."

The Red Dragons led from the start, taking a 10-0 lead in the first five minutes with six points from junior PJ Laidley (Fort Lauderdale, FL/Pembroke Pines Charter). Three points from Buffalo State's Kevin Carpenter brought the game within six. Sophomore Elijah Castillo (Bronx, NY/St. Raymonds) knocked down a pair of free throws, and then senior Graham Wooden (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) drained a three-pointer at 14:46 to push the lead to 15-4. 

Sophomore Tyler Harts (Queens, NY/Sewanaka) scored on the fast break to build the Red Dragons' lead to 13 points, but a triple from Jaiden Allen and then a Will Beard jumper made it 17-9. 

Oneonta kept building its lead afterward, with sophomore Javen Flowers-Smith (Atlanta, GA/Pembroke Pines Charter) hitting a triple at 9:26 to make it 27-13. Buffalo State fought back to pull within nine following an inside basket from Matt Parkinson at 5:51, but junior Xavier Hill (Johnson City, NY/Johnson City) followed with a trey to put the Red Dragons back up by 13 points. 

A 5-0 span pushed Oneonta ahead 42-24 with 2:23 remaining in the half. The Bengals made a small run before Flowers-Smith hit a buzzer-beater to make it 46-32 at the break. 

Oneonta scored five unanswered points to start the second to lead 51-32. After the Red Dragons went up by 19, the Bengals rattled off a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 12 points. Freshman Mohammad Sylla (Bronx, NY/Darrow) netted an inside basket at 12:41 and then converted a pair of free throws to make it 63-49. Hill hit a triple to give Oneonta a little more cushion. 

Back-to-back baskets from Flowers-Smith and Laidley brought the Oneonta lead to 22 points as the Bengals could not pull within single digits for the remainder of the night. 

Laidley scored 16 points with six rebounds, one block, and a steal. Wooden added 13 points, five boards, and a steal, while Elijah Castillo (Bronx, NY/St. Raymonds) had 13 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Flowers-Smith added 11 points. Freshman Elijah Morris (Mount Vernon, NY/Mount Vernon) led the team with a career-high nine rebounds. 

The Red Dragons shot 27-of-58 from the field (46.6 percent) and 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) from a three-point range. Oneonta outrebounded Buffalo State 60-29.

Corcel Smallhorne led Buffalo State with 16 points, and Matt Parkinson had 10. Nigel Burch had a team-high five rebounds. 

The Bengals shot 22-of-62 (35.5 percent) and 8-of-23 (34.8 percent) for threes.

The Sat. Jan. 13 game at Fredonia has been postponed due to weather. The next Oneonta game will be at home against Cortland on Tue. Jan. 16 at 7:30 p.m.