PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's basketball team used a career performance from sophomore forward Jonathan Patron (Huntington, N.Y./Harborfields) to notch an important State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) win over SUNY Oneonta Friday evening at Memorial Hall, defeating the Red Dragons, 87-82.
 
Patron drained a career-high 33 points and added a career-high-tying 15 rebounds. He shot 13-of-27 from the floor on the game and went 7-of-9 at the line.
 
The Cardinals rise to 9-9 overall (5-7 SUNYAC) with the win and will look to go above .500 once again when it hosts SUNY New Paltz tomorrow at 2 p.m. Prior to the start of the game, Plattsburgh State will honor senior forward Owen Mitchell (Potsdam, N.Y./Potsdam) and junior forward Majestic Grigg (New York, N.Y./KIPP NYC) as a part of Senior Day festivities. Oneonta falls to 10-8 overall (7-4 SUNYAC) with the loss and wraps up its North Country trip tomorrow when it visits SUNY Potsdam for a 2 p.m. contest.
 
The lead see-sawed back and forth in the second half, but Plattsburgh State rattled off nine straight points midway through the period, and a layup by junior guard Eli Bryant (Staten Island, N.Y./Michael J. Petrides School) staked the Cardinals to a 75-67 advantage. Oneonta hung tough, though, netting four unanswered points to pull within three (78-75), but Plattsburgh State countered right back with four straight points, reclaiming a seven-point edge after a Patron layup with 49 seconds left.
 
Senior forward Lawrence Coleman cashed in on a layup on the Red Dragons' next possession to pull the visitors within five, and after junior guard Dwayne Freeman forced a turnover, senior forward Mikey McElroy made it a two-point game following a 3-pointer with 29 seconds left. With Oneonta pressing, the two teams combined for four timeouts, the last of which came with 23 seconds remaining. Patron broke free of the press and nearly was stripped by Coleman at midcourt, but Coleman was whistled for the foul.
 
With the Cardinals in the bonus, Patron made the first shot and missed the second, only to see graduate student guard Frankie Kelly rip off a fast-break layup with 13 ticks left to cut the gap to one. Oneonta was forced to foul with 11 seconds remaining, and junior guard Zack Coleman (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) stretched the Cardinal cushion back to three following two made free throws. Kelly misfired on a 3-pointer on the other end and Patron corralled the board before knocking down a pair of free throws with less than a second left to provide the final score of 87-82.
 
Back-and-forth play defined the opening stanza, with no team leading by more than five points. Oneonta led by as many as five, and though the Red Dragons entered the locker rooms with a 42-40 lead, Bryant scored with four seconds left in the period to give the Cardinals some momentum heading into the second half.
 
Plattsburgh State reversed a 51-49 Oneonta lead with an 11-2 surge in the early goings of the second half, and a 3-pointer by Bryant handed the Cardinals a 60-53 advantage with 15:08 left in regulation. The Red Dragons netted eight unanswered points to grab a 61-60 edge, which set the stage for the exciting finish.
 
While Oneonta shot 51.6 percent (33-of-64) from the floor and 72.7 percent (8-of-11) from the line on the game, Plattsburgh State finished with a 42-31 edge in rebounds. The Cardinals also shot 75 percent (15-of-20) from the free-throw line.
 
Beyond Patron's numbers, Bryant and sophomore guard/forward Chris Middleton (New York, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) added 16 and 15 points, respectively, for Plattsburgh State, while Bryant added four assists.
 
For Oneonta, Kelly recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 assists, while McElroy tallied the team high in points (22). Coleman and freshman guard Kevin Mackin rounded out the Red Dragons' double-digit scorers, with Coleman notching 19 and Mackin pouring in 10 coming off the bench.