Senior Brandon Caruthers (Rochester, NY/East) scored a team-high 16 points including nine in the final five minutes of the game and a free throw with two seconds left to lead The College at Brockport Men's Basketball team to an unbelievable come-from-behind 57-56 victory over Plattsburgh to claim the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Tournament Championship Saturday afternoon in front of 2,000 fans in the Jim and John Vlogianitis Gymnasium in Brockport.
Brockport (24-3) earns the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament and will learn its first round opponent and location as the entire field for the tournament is announced at 12:30 pm Monday.
Caruthers was named the tournament MVP and Aaron White (North Tonawanda, NY/Canisius) was selected to the All-Tournament team. John Perez and Ezra Hodgson were All-Tournament selections from Plattsburgh.
"I kept telling the guys "keep fighting and keep playing hard", said Caruthers. "We really wanted to win the game for John (Ivy) and I just wouldn't let them give up. I never really felt like we didn't have a chanced. We came from behind earlier in the season and I knew we could do it again."
John Ivy (Rochester, NY/East) was injured with two games left in the regular season.
Plattsburgh (22-5) led for all but the final two seconds of the game and had its largest lead – a 19-point advantage - at 40-21 two minutes into the second half.
Brockport fought back and trailed by 12 points at 15:38 when freshman Clifton Lyerly (Inwood, NY/Lawrence) hit a layup. Two minutes later, senior Bobby Bell (Rochester, NY/East) sparked a 10-0 run with a 3-pointer. The run was capped by a White 3-pointer cutting the Plattsburgh lead to five points at 43-38 with 12 minutes on the clock.
"We just kept chipping away and chipping away," said head coach Greg Dunne. "It was really special to win on our home court in front of the Brockport fans. This was a great college basketball atmosphere and I hope the NCAA selection committee takes that into consideration when they are looking at host sites for the tournament."
The Cardinals responded with a 9-0 run to regain its advantage with a 14-point lead at 52-38 at the 9:00 mark.
Neither team scored for the next 2:31 before Caruthers drove the lane for a layup starting another 10-0 Brockport run. Caruthers had two layups, two free throws and a steal and three rebounds in the run.
White capped the run with a driving layup to bring Brockport to within two points at 52-50 with 2:42 on the clock. The teams traded baskets over the next minute with Caruthers hitting a layup for Brockport but Plattsburgh's John Perez hit a pair of free throws with 1:25 remaining to give the Cardinals a four-point lead.
Senior Matt Lee (Ballston Lake, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) scored on a lay in with 45 seconds left to make it 56-54 and then stole the ball at the other end of the court, drove the lane and scored the tying basket on a layup with 35 seconds left.
Plattsburgh moved up the court and retained possession with less than three seconds on the clock after Brockport knocked the ball out of bounds. Plattsburgh called its last time out to set up a play but when the Brockport defense prevented a clear inbounds pass, Plattsburgh called a time out from the sideline and were assessed a technical foul since the Cardinals did not have a time out left.
Caruthers hit one-of-two free throws to give Brockport its first lead of the game and a last second jumper by the Cardinals fell short giving Brockport the conference title.
Caruthers had 16 points and four steals and White added 10 points. Patrick Coyle (North Chili, NY/Bishop Kearney) scored seven points, grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and also blocked four shots. Hodgson led Plattsburgh with 16 points while Perez added 15 points and nine rebounds.