PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's basketball team clinched the fourth seed and home court in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) tournament first-round game with a dominant 116-95 win over Fredonia on senior day in their regular season finale. Junior guard Kareem Welch (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Thomas Jefferson) paced the Cardinal offense with a game-high 25 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists in an all-around performance.

Plattsburgh celebrated seven seniors as Orlando Dawkins (Mount Vernon, N.Y. / Mount Vernon), Ikechukwu Ezike (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Paul Robeson), Ladan Graves (Pelham, N.Y. / Pelham Memorial), Franklin Infante (East Rockaway, N.Y. / East Rockaway), Matt Kone-Bradshaw (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Adams Street Academy), Jeremiah Smith (Brooklyn, N.Y. / East New York Family Academy), and Kevin Tabb (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Thomas Jefferson) were honored with a pregame ceremony.

The Cardinals seniors had heavy contributions on the evening with three of them netting double figures led by Infante who had a strong performance with 22 points, seven rebounds, three steals, and two assists. Ezike and Tabb both recorded 13 points while Ezike had five rebounds, two assists, and a steal, and Tabb had three steals, an assist, and a rebound. First-year guard/forward Nate Pondexter Jr. (Washington, D.C. / Archbishop Carroll) also scored double figures with 12 points to go with three rebounds and Smith had a solid performance with eight points, three assists, and two rebounds. Graves had six points and two rebounds, Kone-Bradshaw had four points, three rebounds, and two assists, and Dawkins had four points and two rebounds.

For the Blue Devils, Brandon Kulakowski and Aiden Proudfoot both recorded 20 points while Kulakowski also grabbed 12 rebounds for a double-double and Proudfoot had a game-high seven assists. Martin Garza and Malik Jemison both were in double figures with 15 and 10 points respectively

The Cardinals scored their most points all season thanks to 62.3% shooting from the field, 45.5% shooting from behind the arc, and 71.4% shooting from the stripe. The Blue Devils were efficient from the field, shooting 47.8% from the field, 36.1% from the three, and 69.2% from the free throw line. The Cardinals had the advantage in rebounds 39-34 and recorded 16 second-chance points compared to the Blue Devils' six. Plattsburgh had fewer turnovers on the evening and got 29 points off turnovers while the Blue Devils had 20.

Plattsburgh State finishes their regular season 14-11 (11-7 SUNYAC) and is back in action on Tuesday, Feb. 25 in a SUNYAC First Round matchup when they host number five-seeded Morrisville for a 7 p.m. tip-off at Memorial Hall. Fredonia concludes their season 6-17 (4-12 SUNYAC) as the Blue Devils have already been eliminated from playoff contention.

The Cardinals quickly jumped out to a 6-0 lead at the 17:51 mark after Tabb knocked down a three and Ezike made the layup plus the free throw and then used an 8-0 run led by Infante with four points to extend their lead to 19-5 at the 14:25 mark. The Cardinals' double-digit lead held until nearly midway through the first half when a Fredonia 7-0 run courtesy of Garza made the score 24-18. Fredonia continued to battle and went on another run which cut Plattsburgh's lead to three with less than five minutes remaining in the first half. The Cardinals countered Fredonia's run with one of their own led by Pondexter Jr, with four points that made the score 47-36 at the 1:41 mark. After a jumper from Tabb and a free throw from Infante pushed Plattsburgh's lead back to double digits, a foul at the end of the first half made the score 50-43 at halftime.

After a 5-0 burst from Fredonia tied the game at 56, Plattsburgh went on a 13-0 tear led by Ezike with seven points and took a 69-56 lead at the 13:56 mark. That run gave Plattsburgh all the momentum as the Cardinals controlled the game the rest of the way pushing their lead to as high as 22 at the 6:36 mark when Tabb knocked down a three-pointer that made the score 98-76. The Cardinals used a 6-0 run and took their largest lead of the game at 24 with less than 30 seconds remaining and ultimately won 116-95.