Feb 18, 2011
CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland clinched a spot in the eight-team SUNYAC Men's Basketball Tournament with a 68-58 victory over visiting Geneseo. The Red Dragons, winners of three straight games, are 7-10 in conference play (10-14 overall) with one game remaining Saturday at home versus Brockport. They are tied with Potsdam for sixth place, and will most likely finish in sixth or seventh place depending on the outcome of Saturday's games.
Freshman Kevin McMahon (Hoosick Falls) led Cortland with career highs of 19 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore Jesse Winter (Rockville Centre/South Side) scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting and sophomore Jeremy Smith (Bronx/Riverdale Kingsbridge) scored 13 points.
Sophomore center Dan Sternkopf (Washingtonville) finished with career bests of nine blocked shots and nine rebounds. The nine blocked shots are the most by a Cortland men's player since the NCAA first started officially tracking the statistics in the 1985-86 season.
Ryan Riefenhauser (Dobbs Ferry) paced Geneseo (11-13, 5-12 SUNYAC) with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Mike Hoy (Batavia) and Ethan Estabrooks (Cropseyville/Tamarac) finished with 10 points apiece. The loss, combined with Potsdam's win at Fredonia, eliminated the Knights from SUNYAC playoff contention.
Cortland led 30-22 with 3:45 left in the first half, but Geneseo finished the half on a 9-2 run and trailed by only one, 32-31, at halftime. The Knights eventually tied the game at 43-43 with 12:36 remaining and led 49-47 after two Lamont Stokes (Ardsley) free throws with 8:15 remaining.
The Red Dragons regained the lead for good 30 seconds later on a Harrison Hefele (Greenlawn/Friends Academy) three-pointer. Sternkopf's jumper with 6:37 left and a Winter three-pointer with 5:41 remaining gave Cortland a 55-49 advantage.
Geneseo cut the deficit to three at 55-52 on a Hoy trey with 4:34 left, but Cortland scored the next 10 points, seven by McMahon, over a four-minute span to put the game away.