CORTLAND, N.Y. – Nationally 25th-ranked and top-seeded Cortland shot 12-of-25 from three-point range, including four three-pointers each by seniors Jesse Winter (Rockville Centre/South Side) and Jeremy Smith (Bronx/Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy), and the Red Dragons defeated fourth-seeded Oswego, 65-54, in the SUNYAC tournament semifinals.
Cortland (22-4) will face second seed Plattsburgh in the SUNYAC title game Saturday at 4 p.m. at Corey Gymnasium. Plattsburgh defeated Geneseo, 77-67, in Friday's first semifinal game. Cortland advances to the SUNYAC finals for the second straight year and sixth time overall since the league re-started its tournament in 1980. The Red Dragons last won the title in 2000 and finished second in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2012.
Winter finished with game highs of 18 points and four assists. He made 4-of-10 three-pointers and 7-of-14 shots overall. Smith totaled 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, 4-of-6 from downtown, and grabbed five rebounds.
Senior Brian Manning (Elmira/Southside) connected on 3-of-5 three-pointers in an 11-point effort. Junior Kevin McMahon (Hoosick Falls) added eight points and seven rebounds and senior Dan Sternkopf (Washingtonville) grabbed six rebounds.
Oswego (19-8) was led by Hayden Ward's 16 points and 12 rebounds. Daniel Ross scored 12 points and Sean Michele had 10 points and three assists. Chris Gilkes chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds.
Cortland shot 51 percent from the field. Oswego turned the ball over only three times, but hit only 33 percent of its total shots and 27 percent (7-of-26) from the three-point line.
Cortland erased an early 7-2 deficit and led 26-18 with 2:19 left after Manning's third three-pointer of the half. The Lakers, however, finished the first half on a 10-3 run. Kyle Covley's steal and buzzer-beating layup pulled Oswego to within 29-28 at halftime.
The hosts, though, never relinquished the lead in the second half. Two Winter three-pointers and two Sternkopf baskets fueled an early 10-2 run that put Cortland ahead 39-30. The lead grew to 13 on a Winter jumper with 11:09 left and rose as high as 15 at 54-39 after back-to-back Smith treys, the latter with 6:46 left.
Oswego closed back within nine on a Gilkes jumper with four minutes remaining, but Smith answered with a jumper 30 seconds later and Cortland held a double-digit lead from that point.