Chris Gilkes and Conor Monaghan combined to score 25 points off the bench to help the Oswego State men's basketball team push its' current win streak to 12 games after a 53-47 victory at Potsdam Saturday afternoon.  The Lakers also controlled the lane out-scoring the Bears 32-18 in the paint.  The win combined with losses by Plattsburgh and Brockport gave Oswego State the No. 1-seed in the upcoming SUNYAC Playoffs with a league mark of 14-1 and an overall mark of 19-3.  Potsdam moved to 7-15 overall and 6-9 in the conference with the loss.

Neither team grabbed a distinctive edge until the Lakers rattled off 13 straight points from four different players to grab a ten-point lead at 19-9 with 7:43 left in the first half.   The Bears whittled down the margin to five points at halftime despite Oswego State shooting 52.2 percent from the field in the stanza.

Potsdam took a slim 34-32 lead after a Curtis Pierce putback with 11:19 to play, but Sean Michele converted a three-point play to give the Lakers the lead for good.  However, their advantage was never more than four points the rest of the way.  Gilkes helped ice the game for Oswego State when he caused a Bear turnover, and went the other direction for the layup to make the score, 51-47, with 14 seconds left.  Monaghan sealed the win for the Lakers with a pair of free throws in the waning seconds.

Chad Burridge joined Monaghan and Gilkes, who also grabbed nine rebounds, in double-digits with 10 points.  Potsdam evenly distributed the scoring as three players added eight points apiece.  Oswego State shot 44.0 percent (22-for-50) compared to just 31.9 percent (15-for-47) for the Bears.    

The Lakers return to Oswego on Tuesday for an 8 p.m. game against New Paltz in the final week of the regular season.