PLATTSBURGH, N. Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's basketball team celebrated four seniors on Saturday evening and ended the regular season with a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) victory against Oneonta, winning 84-74. With the win, the Cardinals swept the season series against Oneonta and clinched a SUNYAC Tournament spot as the No. 5 seed.

Darren Wright (Washington, D.C. / Bard), Willard Anderson Jr. (Buffalo, N.Y. / East), Dylan Trombley (Moriah, N.Y. / Moriah), and Tim Thomas (Manhattan, N.Y. / Commonwealth Academy (Mass.)) were honored before the start of the game.

Kevin Tabb (Brooklyn, N.Y. /Thomas Jefferson) led all scorers in points with 22 to go with eight rebounds and a steal. Ikechukwu Ezike also had eight rebounds to pair with three points, two assists, and a block. Jeremiah Smith (Brooklyn, N.Y. / East New York Family Academy) and Trombley notched double figures on the night as well with 14 and 13 respectively while Smith put in one rebound and a steal and Trombley three rebounds and an assist. Anderson Jr. and Thomas both had nine points as Anderson Jr. grabbed four rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block and Thomas had an assist and a steal. Franklin Infante (East Rockaway, N.Y. / East Rockaway) and Wright contributed to the action with seven and five points respectively. Both also had three assists and two rebounds.

The Red Dragons had two players with 20 points or more as Elijah Castillo led the way with 21 and Xavier Hill was right behind him with 20.

The Cardinals shot an efficient 42.6% from the field and 33.3% from the three making 8 of 24 while the Red Dragons shot a solid 35.6% from the field and only 14.3% from the three making 14.3%. Both teams shot 28 free throws but the Cardinals had a better percentage from the stripe at a very efficient 85.7% making 24 of 28 and the Red Dragons made 19 of 28 at 67.9%. The Cardinals only had nine turnovers which led to seven points for the Red Dragons while the Red Dragons had 11 turnovers which led to 12 points for the Cardinals. The Red Dragons won the rebounding battle 44-37 and had 14 second-chance points compared to the Cardinals 11.

Plattsburgh finishes their regular season 14-11 overall (11-7 SUNYAC) and are still dancing as they clinched the No. 5 seed in the SUNYAC Tournament and will travel to No. 4 Cortland on Tuesday, Feb. 20 for a 7 pm tip-off. Oneonta finished their regular season 12-12 overall (9-8 SUNYAC) and also clinched a playoff berth as the No. 6 seed and will travel to No. 3 Brockport on Tuesday, Feb. 20 for a 7:30 pm tip-off.
The first half was all Cardinals as they led by as many as 17 but the Red Dragons chipped away as they cut the Cardinal lead to four at halftime. Ezike opened the game with a three followed by a Caleb Brown layup and a jumper from Castillo that gave the Red Dragons their only lead of the game at 4-3. Two back-to-back threes from Thomas and Wright gave the Cardinals back the lead. The Cardinals went on a 12-0 run from the 16:43 mark until the 14:01 mark that made the score 21-5 Cardinals. After a pair of free throws from Castillo and a three from Trombley, the Cardinals lead stretched to 17 their largest of the game. A 7-0 run for the Red Dragons from the 7:43 mark until the 6:25 mark made the score 30-22.  Another 7-0 for the Red Dragons from the 4:02 mark until the 2:28 mark cut the Cardinals' lead to four and made the score 35-31. Both teams scored four more points as the Cardinals went into halftime up 39-33.

The second half saw the Red Dragons cut the lead to one, but the Cardinals pushed it back up to double-digits and pulled away late. Hill opened the second half with a layup followed by an Anderson Jr. layup. Another layup from Hill cut the Cardinals' lead to one and made the score 44-43 with less than 15 minutes to play. The Cardinals didn't relinquish the lead and it stayed in the single-digits until a jumper from Tabb pushed it back to double-digits at the 7:56 mark and made the score 59-49. The Red Dragons cut the lead back to single digits on multiple occasions at the 7:36 mark and the 6:26 mark. Four straight points for the Cardinals made the score 72-57 and pushed their lead to 15 with less than five minutes to play. Four straight points from the Red Dragons made the score 74-67 with less than three minutes to play. The Red Dragons threatened as they cut the lead to five on a Castillo three that made the score 77-72 with a little over a minute left. The Cardinals locked in on the defensive end and ended the game on a 7-2 run and won 84-74.