Senior Brandon Caruthers (Rochester, NY/East) scored 21 points and handed out a career-high eight assists to help The College at Brockport men's basketball team defeat Oneonta 86-71 on Senior Day in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) matchup for the final game of the regular season on Saturday afternoon in Brockport.
Brockport (22-3, 16-2 SUNYAC) opened up the game on an 8-0 run started by four points from Caruthers. Dorian Hayden (East Northport, NY/Northport) scored the other four points during the run.
The Golden Eagles managed to hang onto a decent lead until 8:42, as Oneonta (12-13, 9-9 SUNYAC) cut Brockport's lead to just two points off of a three pointer. Layups from Aaron White (North Tonawanda, NY/Canisius) and Bobby Bell (Rochester, NY/East) pushed the lead back out to six points, but the Red Dragons managed to hit two big shots to trail by only one point with 6:57 left in the first half.
Oneonta gained their first lead of the game at 6:13, going up by one point.
The lead was traded back and forth in the final two minutes, coming to three different ties. A layup from Matt Lee (Ballston Lake, NY/Shenendehowa) with 14 seconds on the clock helped give Brockport a two point advantage heading into overtime.
In the second half, Oneonta quickly tied things up with a layup. Once again, the teams traded the lead back and forth.
At 12:23, Clifton Lyerly (Inwood, NY/Lawrence) gave Brockport a two point lead and the Golden Eagles would stay ahead the rest of the game.
Strong shooting from the Golden Eagles helped push their lead out. A free throw from White put Brockport up by 14 points with just over six minutes to play.
The closest the Red Dragons would come in the final minutes was nine points at 2:45.
Brockport hit six free throws at the end of the game to push their lead back out. With 37 seconds left in the game, Mitch Cote (Rochester, NY/Penfield) drained a three pointer to give the Golden Eagles their largest lead of the game, 19.
Brockport finished the game shooting 51.7% (30-58) from the floor, 35.3% (6-17) from long range and 62.5% (20-32) from the free throw line. The Golden Eagles forced Oneonta into 19 turnovers and came up with 11 steals.
Caruthers led the offense with 21 points, while White and Lyerly each added 12. Patrick Coyle (North Chili, NY/Bishop Kearney) chipped in nine points and pulled down six rebounds. Ismael Pierre (Hempstead, NY/Hempstead) recorded a season-high seven boards.