Jan 24, 2020
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Plattsburgh rallied from a 12-point deficit over the final eight minutes and the Cardinals defeated visiting Cortland, 76-72, in SUNYAC men's basketball action.
Cortland (10-5, 4-4 SUNYAC) was led by Ryan Schmadel (Oriskany) with 23 points and seven made 3-pointers, both career highs. He made five first-half treys and finished 7-for-15 from the arc. Austin Grunder (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) posted 16 points and 13 rebounds and Brendan Fitzpatrick (Plainview/Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK) registered 15 points, six assists, three steals and a career-high 11 rebounds.
Travis Cox led Plattsburgh (6-9, 3-5 SUNYAC) with 20 points. He also totaled seven rebounds and three assists. Nick Angelis scored 15 points and led the Cards with five assists, Jeremy Eisenman hit four 3-pointers and ended with 12 points and seven rebounds, and Axel Rodriguez chipped in with 12 points and three steals. Erik Salo led Plattsburgh with eight rebounds.
Cortland led by as many as 14 points in the first half and held a 40-29 halftime lead. Plattsburgh got back to within five points five minutes into the second half, but the Red Dragons went up by 12 at 55-43 on an Eric Edwards (Binghamton) layup with 13:06 left and still held a 12-point lead at 61-49 when Fitzpatrick hit a layup at the 9:28 mark.
Eisenman hit two 3-pointers over the next two minutes and Plattsburgh was within six with 7:24 left. Fitzpatrick made a layup with 7:02 remaining, but Eisenman and DeAngelis buried treys to cut the Cardinals' deficit to two with 5:16 left, and Rodriguez tied the game with two free throws with 4:48 left.
Cortland trailed by four, 69-65, with 3:12 left after a DeAngelis layup, but fought back to take the lead after a Schmadel 3-pointer with 2:54 left and a Fitzpatrick layup at the 1:55 mark.
DeAngelis hit a 3-pointer with 1:27 left to put Plattsburgh up 72-70. Cortland missed a 3-pointer on its next possession and a layup and a 3-pointer in the final 15 seconds. Cox sank two free throws with five seconds left to put Plattsburgh ahead 74-70. Grunder caught a long inbounds pass and scored with about two seconds left to cut the deficit back to two, but DeAngelis sealed the win with two foul shots with a second remaining.
Cortland shot 43 percent from the field in the first half but only 35 percent in the second half and finished at 39 percent. The Red Dragons were 10-of-34 (29 percent) from 3-point range. Plattsburgh hit only 28 percent of its shots during the opening 20 minutes, but shot 57 percent in the second half to finish at 41 percent. The Cardinals went 7-for-11 from the arc in the second half and ended 9-of-24 (37 percent).
Cortland will play at Potsdam Saturday at 4 p.m.