Eric Edwards (Binghamton) led Cortland with 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting. Austin Grunder (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) scored 19 points, 15 in the second half, and led the Red Dragons with 18 rebounds. Grunder also had three assists and two blocks.

 

Ben Walters (Lockport/Starpoint) finished with 12 points, including three 3-pointers. Schmadel netted 11 points, Jake DiSanto (Victor) made 3-of-4 shots from 3-point range in a nine-point effort, and Brendan Fitzpatrick (Plainview/Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK) dished out a career-high nine assists, six in the second half.

 

Jorge Perdomo led Purchase (0-2) with 22 points. He made four 3-pointers. Elijah Lott filled the stat sheet with 20 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, Maxx Miller netted 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and Eric Block added 15 points (3-of-4 from 3-point range) for the Panthers.

 

Cortland led 12-4 to start the game, but Purchase eventually took a 20-19 lead with 11:07 left in the half and led by as many as 11 points before settling for a 45-37 halftime lead. Edwards scored 16 points in the opening stanza on 6-of-9 shooting and Walters tallied 10 of his 12 points during the half.

 

The Panthers grabbed their largest lead at 61-45 on a Miller dunk with 13:31 remaining. Cortland slowly whittled away at its deficit and was within two at 73-71 after a Grunder layup with 6:08 left. The Red Dragons eventually tied the game at 81 on a pair of Fitzpatrick free throws with 2:14 on the clock.

 

Lott nailed a 3-pointer with 1:50 left to put Purchase up three. After the teams traded possessions, DiSanto hit a three with 38 seconds left to tie the game at 84. Block was fouled with 16 seconds left and sank both foul shots to give the hosts an 86-84 lead. Following a timeout, Schmadel hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with three seconds left, and Purchase missed on its final 3-point try to give Cortland the win.

 

Cortland will host Ithaca on Tuesday at 7 p.m.