ONEONTA, N.Y. - The Oneonta men's basketball team completed the weekend SUNYAC sweep with a 75-73 overtime victory against Fredonia on Saturday afternoon. The Red Dragons move to 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the SUNYAC, while the Blue Devils fall to 1-6 and 0-2 in the conference.
"We are happy with the win, but it's obvious that we have a lot of work to do," said head coach Cameron Conover. "We will get back to work on Monday."
Both halves scored identical, with neither side leading by more than 11 points. After David Jordan scored on the fastbreak, senior Zyeir Lawrence (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) threw down a dunk at 15:03 to start a 10-0 run to put Oneonta ahead 17-9. Fredonia responded with a pair of triples from Brandon Kulakowski at 9:15 and 8:45 to cut the lead to four. The Red Dragons built back up following a tip-in score from freshman Cam LaClair (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) at 6:53. A steal and dunk from Lawrence pushed the Oneonta lead to nine points. Another steal from senior Xavier Hill (Johnson City, NY/Johnson City) led to an easy layup by freshman Pat Evans (Staten Island, NY/Xaverian) to give the Red Dragons their largest lead at 29-18.
The Blue Devils answered with a 7-0 to bring the score within four points before Hill knocked down a three-pointer at 2:35 to make it 32-25. Fredonia shut out Oneonta in the final minutes, and David Jordan hit a trey to cut the lead to two. Antowan made a buzzer-beater jumper to make it 32-32 heading into the break.
It was a close start to the half until back-to-back dunks from Lawrence gave Oneonta a 48-41 advantage. LaClair converted an inside jumper to push the lead to eight, and the Red Dragons continued to hold a narrow lead. Aidan Proudfoot knocked down a three-pointer in the final minute to bring the score to 64-61. The Blue Devils recorded free throws from Kai Woods and tied in the final seconds after a Keenan Roberts, Jr. layup to force overtime.
Fredonia led 70-66 following a Woods layup at 2:33. Hill responded by scoring four straight points to tie. Jordan recorded a three-pointer at 1:09 to extend the Blue Devils' lead to 73-70. Scores from Lawrence and Hill gave Oneonta a one-point lead with five seconds to play, and a final free throw from Evans gave Oneonta the close victory.
Hill led the Red Dragons with 20 points, 13 rebounds, and two steals. Lawrence added 19 points, eight boards, three steals, and two blocks. Evans had a career-high 10 points, six rebounds, and three steals.
Jordan scored 18 points off the bench for Fredonia, while Kulakowski scored 16 with 12 rebounds. Woods added 13 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, one block, and one steal.
Oneonta next heads to the West Coast to play Occidental in Los Angeles on Dec. 19.
