PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - The Plattsburgh State men's basketball team fell to the Brockport Golden Eagles on Friday night 81-63 in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) contest. The Cardinals were able to stay close to the league's top team, trailing by just three points at the break before being outscored by 15 points in the second half.
Sophomore guard Kevin Tabb (Brooklyn, N.Y./Thomas Jefferson) paced the Card's offense, pouring in 16 points on 50% shooting from the field while hitting two three-pointers and adding three steals. Junior swingman Justin Blanchett (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) had a strong scoring night as well with 13 points, also pulling down five rebounds. For Brockport, David Grady had a strong offensive game with a game-high 23 points and 12 rebounds, also blocking three shots.
The Golden Eagles dominated the interior versus Plattsburgh, outrebounding the Cards 51-27, outscoring them 54-28 in the paint, and holding a 26-10 advantage in second-chance points. Brockport shot 47% from the field in the win as well, knocking down 15-20 free throw attempts as well, both better than the Cardinals' marks of 37.5% and 66.7%. The Cards forced 17 Golden Eagle turnovers and only gave up the ball 10 times, but points off turnovers were nearly even with Brockport netting 15 points off giveaways to Plattsburgh's 14.
The Cardinals move to 6-10 with the loss and are now 2-7 in SUNYAC play, as they welcome Geneseo to Memorial Hall tomorrow, January 21 at 4 pm. The Golden Eagles move to 14-3 overall and sit atop first place in the conference at 9-1, and play Potsdam on the road tomorrow at 4 pm.
The first half looked like it was going well into Brockport's favor as the game began, with the Golden Eagles going up 13 points at the 11:45 mark, 20-7. Plattsburgh then rattled off a 12-1 run to pull back within two points, with an Erik Salo (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) free throw capping the run. The half remained class from then on, with a Tabb three giving the Cards a 38-37 lead just before the 1:30 mark. Back-to-back buckets from Brockport helped the team regain the lead and go up 41-38 into the break, as Plattsburgh would not get closer than three points for the remainder of the game.
Brockport slowly built their lead out in the second half, using their strong interior presence to get easy buckets and end offensive possessions for Plattsburgh. Through the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Cards were able to keep the deficit in the single-digits, and trailed by 10 points with just 4:44 to go, after Blanchett knocked down his lone three-pointer of the game. Over the final four-plus minutes, however, Brockport outscored Plattsburgh 10-2, pushing their lead to 18 as Jakai White knocked a three down with 27 seconds to set the largest deficit of the game.