The SUNY Potsdam men's basketball team ended their season on a high note and put the exclamation point to their Senior Day celebrations by putting away SUNY Fredonia down the stretch for an 82-72 victory Saturday afternoon at Jerry Welsh Gymnasium.
Rob Duquette (Peru, N.Y. / Peru) put together a nearly flawless shooting performance, Joe Estramonte (Greenwich, N.Y. / Greenwich Central) played the role of solid floor general and Colin Peterson (Hilton, N.Y. / Hilton) put his second-most points all season as the Bears kept an arm length lead for much of the second half with a red shot shooting display.
Potsdam (5-20, 3-15 SUNYAC) split the season series with the Blue Devils (6-19, 3-15 SUNYAC).
Duquette, who was one of three seniors on the Bears, had 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting including a perfect 6-of-6 from the line to go along with nine rebounds and a steal.
Peterson, a fellow senior, scored 16 points on 6-of-11 field goals with three 3-pointers, four rebounds and three blocks. Senior Brandon Williams (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Boys & Girls) scored seven points and had four rebounds in 19 minutes of action.
"It was good for our seniors to finish that way," said SUNY Potsdam coach Sherry Dobbs Jr. "I was happy for Brandon and Rob and Colin. All three of them played really well tonight and made positive contributions. They've been good leaders and good teammates and that's something that we certainly value from them."
Estramonte dished out a career-best 10 assists with 11 points, four rebounds and two steals. Tom Graf (Elbridge, N.Y. / Jordan-Elbridge) had 11 points including 3-of-5 from downtown.
Potsdam shot a season-best 61 percent (29-of-47 from the floor) as a team and made 50 percent (8-of-16) from 3-point range. In the process, the Bears also gained a 37-17 advantage on the boards.
Fredonia cut the lead to 57-52 with 11:17 remaining, but that's as close as the Blue Devils until they cut it back down to a five-point deficit with just 2:09 left.
Potsdam would put it away though on a jumper and three free throws by Estramonte, a Peterson free throw and two more free throws from junior Zac Adams (Potsdam, N.Y. / Potsdam).
Tyrone Clark had 21 points, nine rebounds, and three assists while Robert Lyles added 20 points and four assists to lead the Blue Devils.
But the Potsdam defense greatly stiffened in the second half. After allowing Fredonia to shoot 55 percent from the floor in the opening half, the Bears' defense clamped down and held them to just 40 percent from the floor.
"I thought we did a much better job defensively on Clark and Lyles in the second half," Dobbs said.
"That was a combination of guys doing stuff—Bushen [Frank] came off the bench and gave us some good minutes. Zac Adams and Brandon and Tom Graf did a nice job of shutting those guys down as much as we can. Those guys can really score. They're both really good really players and we did a good job of containing them more than anything else."