CORTLAND, N.Y. – In a battle of 10-2 teams, the Plattsburgh State men's basketball team took off early and held on late for a 75-68 wire-to-wire victory against SUNY Cortland Saturday afternoon at Corey Gym.
 
The Cardinals collect their seventh straight win and improve to 11-2 overall and 6-0 in SUNYAC contests, while the Red Dragons slip to 10-3 overall and 4-2 in conference tilts.
 
Plattsburgh State jumped out to a 9-0 lead as Cortland missed its first ten shot attempts. It took until 5:02 into the first half for the Red Dragons to get on the board. Freshman Jonathan Patron would then hit a three to give Plattsburgh State a 12-2 advantage.
 
Cortland would cut the lead to six with 13:24 left in the half, but freshman Ian Howard's layup and senior Xavier Thomas' three-pointer re-gave the Cardinals a double digit lead.
 
The rest of the opening stanza belonged to Plattsburgh State as it would shoot 57.1-percent (16-28) from the field, including 6-of-12 from downtown. The Red Dragons struggled mightily shooting the basketball, as they were an eye-popping 1-of-21 from three-point range, and 13-of-43 overall. Despite the woeful shooting from Cortland, the Cardinals led by just 11 points at halftime, 41-30.
 
The Red Dragons erased their memory of the first half quickly into the second, as Carrel Joseph and Blair Estarfaa hit threes on back-to-back possessions to cut the deficit to five points.
 
Turnovers and missed free throws hurt the Cardinals all game, but particularly through the first part of the second half, as they committed six turnovers over the first ten minutes. For the game, Plattsburgh State went just 16-of-30 (53.3-percent) from the charity stripe.
 
Cortland got to within three points of the Cardinals five minutes into the second, but Plattsburgh State held its ground, as its three seniors – Kyle Richardson, Edward Correa, and Xavier Thomas – scored the next seven points as the Cardinals held a slim lead.
 
Towards the midway point of the final half, Plattsburgh took command, going on a 9-0 run to build a 63-49 lead with 8:34 left.
 
The Red Dragons, however, responded with a 9-0 run of their own to make it 63-58 with just under five minutes left.
 
Plattsburgh State got several key offensive rebounds down the stretch and helped themselves by making five free throws over the final minute and change to preserve the key road victory.
 
Edward Correa led the Cardinals with a game-high 16 points and six rebounds, going 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Xavier Thomas chipped in with 14 points, collecting three rebounds and four assists.
 
The Cardinals will look to make it eight straight wins when they make the trip to Potsdam on Tuesday to take on the Bears. The North Country showdown is set for a 7:30 p.m. tip.