GENESEO N.Y. - SUNY Geneseo junior forward Gordon Lyons scored 17 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to earn his 12th double-double of the year as the Knights defeated Plattsburgh, 60-51, in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) basketball, Saturday.
"We had another great night defensivley, holding a really strong scoring team almost 20 points under its average," said head coch Steve Minton. "Offensively, we were missing some shots early on but had some players hit some clutch long-range baskets that gave us some room to breath in the second half."
Geneseo scored the first five points of the game but Plattsburgh would never trail by more than five in the first half. Tied 14-14, with 7:44 on the clock, a layup by junior forward James McKenna would cap a 7-2 run that put the Knights up 21-16 with 6:09 to play in the half. Plattsburgh would close to within one, 25-24, at halftime as Lyons led all players with nine points and seven rebounds.
The Cardinals scored the first four points of the second half to take their first lead of the game, 28-25 and would build a 35-29 lead with 16:39 on the clock. The Knights would respond with a 16-0 run over the next six minutes to take their largest lead of the game, 45-35, at 10:48. Junior guard Andy Drescher keyed the run with three three-pointers finishing the afternoon 4-6 from long-range for his 12 total points.
Plattsburgh would close within two, 47-45, with 7:01 left in regulation but Geneseo would pull away down the stretch for its 10th SUNYAC victory this season.
Plattsburgh's Mike Mitchell was the only Cardinal to reach double-figures in scoring, totaling 11 points on the afternoon, as Plattsburgh's 32.0 shooting percentage (16-of-50) was the second lowest output allowed by the Knights this season (Alfred State shot 28.8% on Dec. 9).
Geneseo (16-3, 10-2 SUNYAC) returns to action on Tuesday, hosting first-place Brockport at 8:00 p.m. at Schrader Gymnasium. Plattsburgh handed the Golden Eagles their first conference loss of the season on Friday, 92-89.