ONEONTA, N.Y. - The Oneonta men's basketball returned to the win column with a 69-41 SUNYAC win over Fredonia on Friday evening in Dewar Arena. Junior Cam LaClair (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) led all scorers with 14 points and added nine rebounds as the Red Dragons move to 13-8 overall and 11-3 in the SUNYAC. The Blue Devils fall to 2-17 and 2-10 in the conference with the loss.
"Our guys responded well tonight," said head coach Cameron Conover. "We came out with a great defensive effort, and we sustained it for the whole night, and we also showed great focus throughout the game."
Oneonta opened the game on a 10-0 run before Fredonia scored at 15:43. Junior Nicholas Cortez (Harlem, NY/Forest Hills) drained a three-pointer at 12:17 to push Oneonta ahead 21-11. Ethan Sokolowski scored inside to cut the lead to single digits, but a jumper from LaClair and another Cortez triple brought the Red Dragons' lead to 13 points. The Blue Devils used a 5-0 run to pull within eight, but Oneonta took another double-digit lead following a jumper from sophomore Pat Evans (Staten Island, NY/Xaverian). The Red Dragons closed out the half on an 8-0 run to lead 38-20 at the break.
Back-to-back fastbreak layups from senior Delano Knox (Poughkeepsie, NY/Arlington) and LaClair gave Oneonta a 20-point lead, and sophomore Sam Booth (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) sank a jump shot at 16:20 to make it 44-22. The Red Dragons' lead grew to 27 points following baskets from Booth and Knox. Freshman Deion Mitchell-Murray (New York, NY/Greenburgh-North Castle) drove through traffic to convert a fastbreak dunk at 11:41 to make it 55-31 as the Oneonta lead continued to grow. Fredonia cut the lead to 19 points after a Kofo Laditan jumper at 3:01, but Oneonta responded with a 9-0 run with five points coming from freshman Jacob Jerome (Poughkeepsie, NY/Arlington) in the final minutes.
Cortez finished with 13 points, five boards, and one steal, while Knox added 12 points and two blocks. Booth netted 11 points, while junior Hobson Herlihy (Lawrence, KS/Lawrence) added six points and five rebounds. Mitchell-Murray finished with a career-high six rebounds.
Stevie Williams led Fredonia with ten points, while Sokolowski had seven points and seven rebounds.
Oneonta next hosts Buffalo State on Saturday, February 7, at 4 p.m.
