Jan 21, 2020
CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland opened up a 21-point second-half lead and held off a furious New Paltz rally in the last four minutes as the Red Dragons defeated the visiting Hawks, 90-79, in a SUNYAC men's basketball contest.
Austin Grunder (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) paced Cortland (10-4, 4-3 SUNYAC) with 34 points and 17 rebounds. He entered the game as the leading rebounder on any NCAA level with 16.7 rebounds per contest. Grunder made 10-of-15 shots from the floor and 14-of-19 free throws.
Jake DiSanto (Victor) made four first-half 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Ryan Schmadel (Oriskany) finished with 13 points and a career-best eight rebounds, while Brendan Fitzpatrick (Plainview/Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK) and Eric Edwards (Binghamton) each scored nine points. Fitzpatrick also added five rebounds and a team-high three assists.
Isaiah Bien-Aise was the New Paltz leader with 26 points and 10 rebounds and he also handed out four assists. Tristan Wissemann totaled 15 points and six rebounds and Jake Passaretti put up nine points and seven assists for the Hawks (4-10, 0-7 SUNYAC).
Cortland led by only five at halftime, 38-33, but pushed its lead to 16 points at 57-41 on a Schamdel 3-pointer about five minutes into the second half. The Red Dragons' lead fluctuated from 14 to 20 points over the next 10 minutes and peaked at 21 points on two occasions, the second at 76-55 on Schamdel's layup with 4:02 remaining.
New Paltz was still down 15 points, 83-68, after Wissemann's layup with 1:49 remaining. RJ Meyers-Turner, however, hit a trey with 1:03 left, and Bien-Aise converted a traditional 3-point play with 48 seconds left to pull the Hawks within nine. Following a turnover, Bien-Aise was fouled and hit two free throws with 43 seconds left to cut Cortland's lead to seven at 83-76.
Grunder made one of two free throws with 36 seconds left and another foul shot with 29 seconds on the clock, but Wissemann buried a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left to make it a two-possession game at 85-79. Cortland, however, closed out the game with five free throws over the last 19 seconds – one by Ben Walters (Lockport/Starpoint) and two each by Edwards and Grunder.
Cortland shot 50 percent from the field, including 35 percent (7-of-20) from 3-point territory. New Paltz ended at 38 percent overall and 31 percent (9-for-29) from deep. Cortland enjoyed a large advantage on the foul line, making 27-of-35 foul shots compared to the Hawks' 8-of-11 performance.
Cortland heads the North Country this weekend for SUNYAC games at Plattsburgh Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Potsdam Saturday at 4 p.m.