Feb 08, 2011
CORTLAND, N.Y. – Sophomore Jesse Winter (Rockville Centre/South Side) scored 20 points and freshman Kevin McMahon (Hoosick Falls) matched his career high with 17 points in 20 minutes off the bench as Cortland defeated New Paltz, 77-70, in a SUNYAC game. The Red Dragons improve to 4-9 in the SUNYAC, one half game behind seventh-place Oneonta, and are 7-13 overall. New Paltz drops to 11-9 overall and remains in fifth place in the conference at 7-7.
Winter also led Cortland with five assists and hit all five of his free throws. McMahon shot 7-of-12 from the floor and also recorded five rebounds and three blocked shots. Sophomore Jeremy Smith (Bronx/Riverdale Kingsbridge) added 16 points and three assists and freshman John Connolly (Johnson City/Maine-Endwell) scored nine points. Sophomore Dan Sternkopf (Washingtonville) tallied eight points and led the team with seven rebounds.
Daniel Olsen (Stafford Springs, CT/Wilbraham and Munson) led New Paltz with 18 points and 11 rebounds. He made 8-of-10 shots from the floor. Shareef Taylor (Hyde Park/Franklin D. Roosevelt) also recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Nick Taldi (Merrick/Bellmore JFK) scored 12 points and Harris Wichard (Merrick/Bellmore JFK) finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
New Paltz established a 13-5 lead six minutes into the game, but Cortland closed back to within 18-17 with 8:40 left. The Red Dragons eventually tied the game on a Smith three-pointer in the final seconds of the first half.
Cortland opened the second half on a 10-1 run, the last five points by McMahon, and led 41-32 with 17:22 remaining. The Red Dragons led by as much as 12 points twice in the second half and were up 56-45 with 10:02 left. The Hawks scored 12 of the next 13 points, capped by two Taldi three-pointers, and trailed by only one at 58-57 with 6:33 left. They were still down one after two Taylor Sowah (Bronx/Miller Place) free throws with 3:49 left, but Harrison Hefele (Greenlawn/Friends Academy) answered with his second three-pointer of the half to put Cortland up 66-62 with 3:27 left. Hefele finished with seven points and six rebounds.
Cortland extended a three-point lead to five on two Winter free throws with 1:28 left. New Paltz missed two foul shots on its next possession and Winter put back a missed jumper by Smith with 38 seconds left to give Cortland a seven-point lead.
Cortland will play at Potsdam on Friday, Feb. 11, at 8 p.m. The game will be televised live, along with the Cortland-Potsdam women's game at 6 p.m., on Time Warner Cable Sports in Central New York.