CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland men's basketball team had a 19-point second-half lead whittled down to two with just over two minutes remaining but the Red Dragons held on down the stretch for a 93-88 victory over visiting Potsdam.

 

Cortland improved to 14-7 overall and 8-6 in SUNYAC play, two games behind fourth-place Oswego and two and a half games ahead of sixth-place Geneseo. Potsdam, which entered the night 11-1 over its last 12 games, fell to 17-5 overall and is in third place in the conference with a 12-3 mark. Cortland hosts Plattsburgh Saturday at 4 p.m.

Eric Edwards (Binghamton) led Cortland with a career-high 30 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the floor. He made 7-of-8 free throws and grabbed seven rebounds, and 21 of his 30 points came in the second half. Austin Grunder (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) scored 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting and hauled in 19 rebounds for his 19th double-double of the season. Grunder is ranked second nationally in Division III in rebounding (15.1/game) and double-doubles.

Jake DiSanto (Victor) scored 16 points, all in the second half. He connected on 4-of-8 shots from the 3-point arc. Brendan Fitzpatrick (Plainview/Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK) finished with 10 points, eight assists and five rebounds.

 

Isaiah Brown finished with 33 points and 10 rebounds for the Bears in defeat. He hit on 11-of-20 field goals, including 4-of-9 3-pointers. Jayquan Thomas scored 19 points and dished out three assists and Tyrese Baptiste chipped in with 11 points and six rebounds.

 

Grunder made his first six shots and accounted for Cortland's first 14 points as the Red Dragons led 14-7 just over five minutes into the game. Potsdam led for only 37 seconds on the night at 24-22 with 8:48 left in the half. Cortland led 33-31 with 4:09 remaining before finishing the half with seven straight points on two Grunder layups and a Ben Walters (Lockport/Starpoint) 3-pointer to take a 40-31 halftime lead.

 

Cortland's largest lead was 61-42 with 13:17 remaining in the game after an Edwards 3-point play. The Bears eventually cut their deficit to single digits at 68-59 with 8:34 left, but still trailed by 11 at 84-73 with 3:38 remaining after two Ryan Schmadel (Oriskany) free throws.

 

At that point Potsdam mounted a 10-1 run, starting with Ahamadou Sillah's 3-point play with 3:28 left and ending with a Jayquan Thomas 3-point with 2:03 remaining, to cut Cortland's lead to 85-83. Grunder tipped in his own miss with 1:49 left, but Sillah quickly answered with a layup at the 1:35 mark. Grunder hit the second of two free throws with 1:15 left to give Cortland an 88-85 lead and the teams each came up empty on their next possessions.

 

Thomas hit a shot with 33 seconds left but the basket didn't count as he was fouled prior to the attempt. He made the first free throw but missed the second. Edwards was fouled during the fight for the rebound and made two foul shots to give Cortland a four-point lead.

 

Brown made a jumper with 26 seconds left and Potsdam spent its final timeout. Fitzpatrick was fouled with 19 seconds left and made the second of two free throws to give Cortland a three-point edge. Potsdam elected to try for a quick layup instead of a possible tying 3-point, but a relatively uncontested shot rimmed out and Grunder grabbed the board. He was fouled with 11 ticks remaining and sank both free throws to make it a two-possession game. Potsdam missed two shots on its final trip down the floor.

 

Cortland finished the game shooting 47 percent overall and 36 percent (11-for-31) from long distance. The Red Dragons also made 16-of-21 free throws. Potsdam was 42 percent from the field and 31 percent (8-for-26) from deep, and the Bears hit 20-of-28 free throws. Both teams had 34 points in the paint and 17 second-chance points.