POTSDAM, N.Y. - The Oneonta men's basketball team dominated Potsdam 89-48 in SUNYAC play on Friday evening at the Jerry Welsch Gymnasium for its fourth-straight win. The Red Dragons move to 16-8 overall and 14-3 in the SUNYAC, while the Bears fall to 1-23 and 1-16 in the conference.
"Our guys came out with a great focus tonight," said head coach Cameron Conover. "I thought we played tough defense in the first half. We will get some rest tonightas we have to be ready for another tough opponent tomorrow."
Potsdam scored the opening basket from Batualp Ozen at 19:17, but that proved to be the only Bears' lead of the night. Oneonta went on a 14-0 run to take the lead and never looked back. A layup and three-pointer from sophomore Nate Cohen (Somers, NY/Somers) extended the Oneonta lead to 19-4, and back-to-back baskets from freshman Carlos Almanzar (Brooklyn, NY/John Jay Campus) made it a 19-point game. Potsdam mustered scores from Ethan Baksh and Jaylen Singh to make it 23-7, but Cohen hit another three-pointer at 6:36.
Cohen dropped his third triple of the half at 5:13 to extend the Red Dragons' lead to 22 points. Sophomore Sam Booth (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) scored inside at 4:51, and a fourth Cohen three-pointer pushed the Red Dragons ahead 34-8. Potsdam reached double digits following a triple from Bobby Kemokai at 3:07, and a 9-0 Bears' run cut the lead to 38-17.
Senior Nicholas Cortez (Harlem, NY/Forest Hills) responded with a trey at 1:08, and junior Hobson Herlihy (Lawrence, KS/Lawrence) stole and scored to make it 43-17 at the break.
Cortez hit another three-pointer at 17:32, and sophomore Cam LaClair (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) scored in the paint to make it 51-23. An Almanzar layup gave Oneonta a 30-point lead as the Red Dragons remained in control. Threes from Cortez and Cohen made it 59-28, and Oneonta led by as much as 43 points in the second half. Freshman Kaden Gonzalez (Yorktown, NY/Yorktown) knocked down a triple at 2:12 to make it 85-42, and a final layup by freshman Jacob Jerome (Poughkeepsie, NY/Arlington) gave Oneonta its 89th point.
Cohen led Oneonta off the bench with 20 points on 5-of-10 shooting for threes. He added eight rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Cortez had 15 points, three boards, and two assists. Almanzar netted nine points with four boards.
The Red Dragons did not allow a single double-digit scorer, and Timothy Hardy led Potsdam with nine points. Ozen scored eight.
Oneonta dominated the glass and outrebounded Potsdam 53-22. The Red Dragons shot 50.0 percent from the field and 44.0 percent from three-point range, while limiting the Bears to a 30.8 field goal percentage and 7.1 percent from three-point range.
Oneonta closes the regular season at Plattsburgh on Saturday, February 21, at 4 p.m.
