Jan 12, 2019
CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland fell behind by 12 points after shooting just 30 percent in the first half and the Red Dragons got to within single digits only once the rest of the way in a 77-60 men's basketball home loss to league leader Oswego.
Liam Sanborn barely missed a triple-double for the Lakers (11-2, 6-0 SUNYAC) with 19 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. Quinn Carey made four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, Joe Sullivan totaled 13 points and five rebounds, and Brandan Gartland added 11 points.
Zach Lydon (Elizaville/Stissing Mountain) and Nicky Bonura (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) finished with 11 points each to lead Cortland (10-3, 4-2 SUNYAC), which had an eight-game win streak snapped. Lydon also led the Red Dragons with seven rebounds. William Lee Moore (Rochester/Greece Olympia) added eight points, including two 3-pointers, and five rebounds and Ricardo Dominguez (New York City/Our Saviour Lutheran) scored seven points. Bonura and Justin Cooper (Pine Plains/Stissing Mountain) dished out three assists each.
Oswego shot 47.5 percent from the field (28-of-59) for the game, including 48.4 percent (15-of-31) in the first half. The Lakers made 9-of-23 3-pointers overall and 7-of-14 in the second half. Cortland recovered from shooting 9-of-30 from the floor in the first 20 minutes to hit 45 percent of its shots in the second half, but the Red Dragons ended the game only 6-of-26 (23 percent) from the arc.
Both teams were perfect from the foul line – Oswego at 12-for-12 and Cortland at 8-for-8. The teams combined to commit only 12 turnovers – seven by Oswego and five by Cortland. The Lakers outrebounded the Red Dragons by a 41-27 margin.
Cortland trailed 19-17 after Ben Walters (Lockport/Starpoint) hit a 3-pointer with 7:48 left in the first half. At that point Oswego went on a decisive 15-0 run over a five-minute span that featured six points from Tyler Pierre and four points and three assists from Sanborn to take a 34-17 lead.
The Red Dragons closed their deficit to 12 at halftime, but Oswego grabbed its largest lead at 58-38 on a Carey 3-pointerwith 12:37 remaining. Cortland made a push to get within nine at 65-56 on a Moore trey with 5:12 left, and the Red Dragons had a chance to get closer but turned the ball over on their next possession. Bo Sireika followed with a 3-pointer at the 3:54 mark on his only field goal attempt of the game to push the lead back into double digits.
Cortland will play at New Paltz Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.