CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland scored 16 of the game's final 18 points and the Red Dragons defeated visiting Geneseo, 64-54, in men's basketball action to close out the regular season.

 

Cortland (17-8, 11-7 SUNYAC) will be the fifth seed for next week's six-team SUNYAC playoffs and will play at fourth-seeded Oswego in the quarterfinals Tuesday evening. Despite the loss, Geneseo (9-16, 6-12) clinched the sixth seed for the league tournament and will travel to third-seeded Oneonta for a quarterfinal game Tuesday.

 

Prior to the game, Cortland recognized its four seniors – Brendan Fitzpatrick (Plainview/Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK), Ryan Schmadel (Oriskany), Endher Gonzalez (Brooklyn/Prospect Heights) and JJ Johnson (Rochester/Spencerport).

Eric Edwards (Binghamton) led Cortland with 17 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, and he tied his career high with three assists. Ben Walters (Lockport/Starpoint) scored 14 points, including 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range. Schmadel added nine points on three 3-pointers in five attempts, and Riley McEvoy (Homer) hit two 3-pointers in the game's final seven minutes and finished with a career-best eight points along with four rebounds. Austin Grunder (Trumansburg) was held to just four points but did finish with 10 rebounds for his 23rd double-figure rebounding game in 24 appearances.

 

Michael Gannon paced Geneseo with 18 points and 12 rebounds. He made four of the Knights' six 3-pointers. Joseph Harclerode and Justin Leonard scored 10 points apiece, with Harclerode adding seven rebounds and Terence Rogers finished with nine points and eight assists.

 

After trailing much of the first half, Cortland finished the period on a 7-0 run to take a 30-26 halftime lead. The Red Dragons kept Geneseo off the scoreboard for the first six minutes of the second half and extended the lead to 38-26, and Cortland grabbed its largest lead of the game at 42-29 on an Edwards layup with 12:41 remaining.

 

Over the next five-plus minutes, however, Geneseo mounted a 15-0 run to take the lead. Gannon scored 11 straight points during that stretch, including three 3-pointers, and the Knights were up 44-42 with 7:28 left. Geneseo's largest lead was 52-48 after Harclerode made two foul shots at the 4:20 mark.

 

Grunder's jumper cut the Cortland deficit to two and Schmadel hit 3-pointers at the 3:27 and 2:01 marks to give Cortland a 62-56 lead. Schmadel got a steal with 1:27 left and Edwards scored on a layup with 1:01 remaining to push the lead to six. Fitzpatrick made four free throws and Walters hit two foul shots over the final 52 seconds to close out the victory.