A key 10-0 run with less than nine minutes remaining in the second half pushed The College at Brockport Men's Basketball team past Medaille College, 66-52 in the championship game of the Knee Center of Western New York Holiday Tournament Tuesday afternoon at Medaille in Buffalo.
Senior Patrick Coyle (North Chili, NY/Bishop Kearney) was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player with eight points and a game-high nine rebounds off the bench after a season-high 15 points in Monday's win over Hamilton. Fellow senior Brandon Caruthers (Rochester, NY/East) led Brockport (6-1) with 14 points in the championship win and was named to the All-Tournament team.
Brockport, listed in the also receiving votes section of the latest d3hoops.com national poll, played a close first half and entered the intermission trailing 27-26 despite surrendering 15 free throws to Medaille (3-7) in the first 20 minutes of action. Brockport was 0-for-4 from the line in the first half.
In the second half, Brockport took an early five-point lead but Medaille battle back and tied the game at 45-45 with 8:53 to play. Freshman Clifton Lyerly (Inwood, NY/Lawrence) sparked the key run for the Golden Eagles converting a three-point play just seconds after reentering the game.
Less than a minute later, senior Dorian Hayden (East Northport, NY/Northport) hit a pair of free throws and followed that up with a steal at the other end of the court that led to a fast break 3-pointer by senior Matt Lee (Ballston Lake, NY/Shenendehowa) for an eight-point Brockport lead.
Just over a minute later, Olusola Adeniran (Elmont, NY/Sewanhaka) stole the ball and freshman Aaron White (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) hit a jumper to extend the run to 10-0 and give Brockport a 55-45 lead with 6:21 left to play.
Brockport held the lead down the stretch with the help of a pair of Coyle layups with less than three minutes to play to seal the victory.
Caruthers led Brockport with 14 points and John Ivy (Rochester, NY/East) added 10 points but was limited to just 15 minutes of action due to foul trouble. Lylerly chipped in nine points while Coyle and Bobby Bell (Rochester, NY/East) each scored eight. Coyle led all players with nine rebounds. Caruthers and Bell each hit a pair of 3-pointers while Medaille finished the game 0-for-10 from beyond the arc.
Medaille scored a majority of its points from the free throw line in the opening half but hit just seven in the second half and finished the game 22-for-32. Brockport converted 7-of-8 free throws in the second half after an 0-for-4 start.