ONEONTA, N.Y. - The Oneonta men's basketball team fought back from a 16-point second-half deficit to take down Buffalo State 61-57 on Friday evening. The Red Dragons move to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the SUNYAC, while the Bengals fall to 2-5 and 0-1 in the conference.
"That's a gritty win," said head coach Cameron Conover. "I thought we played as poorly as we possibly could for the first 23 minutes, but our subs and bench guys ignited us to get us back in the game."
Buffalo State used a 10-0 run to take an eight-point lead in the first half. Senior Caleb Brown (Brooklyn, NY/Uncommon Charter) scored inside at 9:56 to cut the lead to 16-10, but Matt Parkinson answered with a layup. The Bengals held a narrow lead until a layup from senior Zyeir Lawrence (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) and a pair of free throws by senior Christian Rogers (New Rochelle, NY/New Rochelle) brought the score to 23-18.
Sophomore Shea Barber (Wells Bridge, NY/Unatego) drained a three-pointer at 4:06 to bring the score within two points before Buffalo State closed the half on a 4-0 run to lead 29-23 at the break.
The Bengals opened the second half on a 10-0 run with six points from Zee Johnson. Brown answered with back-to-back paint buckets, and a Delano Knox (Poughkeepsie, NY/Arlington) jumper at 14:23 made it 29-29. After Chisom Ani split free throws at 12:30, Oneonta used an 8-0 span to tie at 40-40. A steal and layup from freshman Cam LaClair (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) gave the Red Dragons a two-point lead, but a three-pointer from Buffalo State's Oryan DeJesus gave the Bengals the advantage. Lawrence regained the Red Dragons' momentum following a tip-in dunk and a trey at 5:00 to make it 51-47.
Buffalo State took a 57-56 lead at 1:34 following an Ani layup. Lawrence scored inside with 15 seconds remaining to go ahead by two, and a final pair of LaClair free throws sealed the victory.
Brown led the team with 14 points and added six rebounds, one block, and four steals. Lawrence had 13 points and a team-high eight boards. LaClair scored 12 points with six rebounds and was 8-for-8 on free throws. Rogers and senior Xavier Hill (Johnson City, NY/Johnson City) each added six points and five rebounds.
Johnson led Buffalo State with ten points and four rebounds, while Ani and Bryce Williams scored nine.
Oneonta outrebounded Buffalo State 43-23, and a strong bench outscored the Bengals 35-14.
Oneonta will be back to host Fredonia on Sat. Dec. 7 at 4 p.m.
