BROCKPORT, N.Y. – Despite receiving 41 points from the bench, the Plattsburgh State men's basketball team was unable to overcome The College at Brockport in a 96-87 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) loss Friday evening at the Jim and John Vlogianitis Gymnasium.
Junior guard Eli Bryant (Staten Island, N.Y./Michael J. Petrides School) netted a team-high 20 points in 31 minutes coming off the bench, while sophomore guard/forward Chris Middleton (New York, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) and junior guard Eric Mack (Roosevelt, N.Y./Baldwin) added 16 and 15 points, respectively. Sophomore forward Isaiah Hill (Brooklyn, N.Y./HS for Dual Language and Asian Studies) also reached double figures, netting a career-high 13 points in 17 minutes of reserve duty.
For Brockport, senior forward Clifton Lyerly torched the nets, scoring 37 points off 11-of-25 shooting from the floor and 12-of-13 shooting from the line. He also added seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Junior guard Hamed Shamseldin poured in 22 points, while junior forward David Clark notched 13 points off the bench.
Plattsburgh State drops to 6-9 overall (2-7 SUNYAC) with the loss and finishes out its Rochester-area trip tomorrow with a 2 p.m. game at SUNY Geneseo. Brockport rises to 13-3 overall (8-1 SUNYAC) with the win and hosts SUNY Potsdam tomorrow at 2 p.m.
Neither team was able to pull away in the first half, as the lead see-sawed back and forth between the two sides. Plattsburgh State opened up a four-point lead twice, with the second occurrence coming off a layup by Middleton. The Golden Eagles countered with five straight points to reclaim the advantage, and they also led by as many as four points in the first half, taking a 43-39 lead with 45 seconds before half.
Plattsburgh State used its calling card—offensive rebounding—to punctuate the first half. The Cardinals missed three shots on their next possession but came down with the rebound each time, with the third rebound being of the team variety after the ball knocked off a Brockport defender and out of bounds. The Golden Eagles posted a block with a few seconds left on the clock, and following a missed layup, Middleton buried a put-back layup as time expired to cut the deficit to 43-41 at the intermission.
Brockport used an 11-2 surge to crack open a 54-43 advantage early in the second half, and Plattsburgh State was never able to recover. Though the Cardinals cut the home team's lead to six (87-81) with 3:17 left in regulation following a Mack 3-pointer, the Golden Eagles closed the contest on a modest 9-6 run to pull out the victory.
Plattsburgh State shot 38.8 percent (31-of-80) from the floor and 91.3 percent (21-of-23) from the line on the game, and the Cardinals held the upper hand in rebounding, 49-48. Brockport, meanwhile shot 43.2 percent (32-of-74) from the field and knocked down seven 3-pointers on the evening.