OSWEGO, N.Y. — On Tuesday, the #25 Oswego State men’s basketball team defeated SUNY Geneseo 88-63, extending their win streak to 11. This victory not only marked the Lakers’ fifth win of the new year, but also the first Geneseo SUNYAC loss.
Through the first four minutes of play, both teams came out firing, with the Knights leading 7-6. Shortly after, Oswego found themselves on a 9-0 run lead by junior Jamal Achille who scored six points. After the Knights went on a scoring run of their own, Oswego was able to capitalize on a 13-4 run which put the Lakers up 38-22 at the half. The Lakers were able to hold the Knights to 25% from the field in the first half, their lowest shooting percentage in any half this season.
Both teams came into the second half scorching hot. In the first 10 minutes, Geneseo were perfect beyond the arch as they went 5-for-5 from three. However, the Lakers were able to keep pace with Geneseo’s scoring onslaught, answering every three with one of their own, going 7-for-9 from deep. Geneseo brought the deficit to eight, but Brendan Mulson hit a three to put the Lakers up by double-digits once again. Over the final six minutes of regulation, the Lakers continued their great shooting performance, hitting four more shots from deep as their lead grew to over twenty.
Oswego finished the night with 13 three-pointers while shooting a whopping 51.6% from the field. Senior Julien Crittendon lead the Lakers in scoring with 18 points while Devin Green totaled 16 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Brendan Mulson (11) and Ahkee Anderson (10) also scored double-digit points in the contest.
With this win, the Lakers are now in sole possession of the top seed in the SUNYAC conference. Oswego is also the #25 ranked team in the nation and with a win on Saturday against SUNY Cortland, they will almost certainly rise in the standings. Tip off is set for 4:00 p.m. at Cortland. WTOP 10 will continue to provide coverage of the Oswego State men’s basketball team as the group continues their 2021-22 season.
Image Provided By William Rogers, WTOP 10 Photography Department
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Oswego State Baseball Travels to Cortland for SUNYAC Championship
OSWEGO, N.Y. — Oswego Baseball goes on the road to Cortland for the SUNYAC Baseball Championship on Friday, May 21st at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., with a game three on Saturday, May 22nd at 12:00 p.m. if necessary. Oswego and Cortland have not played against each other the past two seasons, but the teams are familiar with each other as this will be the fifth straight tournament that the Lakers and Red Dragons meet in the finals. Cortland won the tournament back in 2015 and 2016, but Oswego claimed the crown in 2018 and 2019. Weather cancelled the 2017 tournament resulting in top seeded Oswego to be crowned the champions, and COVID cancelled the 2020 tournament. Oswego will look to claim its 16th overall title and 4th in a row, while Cortland seeks its 35th overall championship.
Friday’s games will also mark the first time there have been fans permitted at a SUNYAC game since March 2020, as SUNY Cortland campus is now open to visitors and New York State has reduced restrictions on social distancing. Fans will only be able to attend if they are on an official list collected by the conference office. Each school was allowed to submit a list of 150 fans, bringing the game total to 300 spectators. Since the attendance is below 500, spectators do not need to provide a negative COVID-19 test or show a vaccination card. Fans are required to adhere to CDC, New York State, and SUNY Cortland COVID-19 guidelines.
#21 Oswego comes in at 23-3 (14-2 SUNYAC) after a 8-2 and 11-4 sweep over Oneonta in Oswego last weekend in the semifinals. Cortland, ranked one spot behind Oswego comes in at #22 nationally with a 25-5 (14-2 SUNYAC) record. Last weekend Cortland also got a semifinal sweep in the form of 11-4 and 3-1 wins over Brockport. There have been eight weeks of the season, which means eight SUNYAC Baseball Athlete of the Week awards, as well as eight SUNYAC Pitcher of the Week awards. Oswego has claimed four of the sixteen awards in the form of three position players and one pitcher, and Cortland has won five awards by four position players and one pitcher.
Oswego takes on Cortland in the SUNYAC Baseball Championship at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Friday, May 21st at Cortland. If necessary, game three will be played on Saturday, May 22nd at noon. The winner gets an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament which kicks off next week.
Image Provided By William Rogers, WTOP 10 Photography Department
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Men’s basketball dominates Red Dragons on senior day
OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Lakers men’s basketball team looked to continue their win streak to 17 this past weekend when they hosted the Cortland Red Dragons for senior night on Saturday evening. The first half ended up being controlled by the Lakers but Cortland held Oswego tough in the first half. After the first ten minutes the score was 13-10 Lakers until Jamal Achille became the offensive spark for Oswego and started a Laker 6-0 where lone senior Devin Green chipped in and added four points over that same stretch. After that run the Lakers exploded on offense going on a 41-18 run the last 10 minutes of the first half shooting similarly from the field and from three-point range (58.06% FG%, 58.33% 3PT%). Oswego got out ahead and had a 54-28 at the half.Cortland tried to start off the half stronger as reigning SUNY-AC player of the year Austin Grunder made a couple big shots to start for the red dragons. But it wouldn’t last long as Kaleb Cook took over during a four-minute stretch during the second half, scoring ten points, while Cortland could only get 4. By that point Cortland couldn’t get anything to go and Oswego would cruise to a 102-62 for their 7th game over 100 points in this season. The Lakers also keep their 17 game streak alive, not losing since the loss to Brockport at home in December. Jeremiah Sparks and Devin Green both had 14 points for the game in a great shooting game for Oswego, but the game was led on Oswego’s side by Kaleb Cook, whose ten point outburst in the second half helped him score 16 for the game. Cortland’s Austin Grunder ended up with another double double in this game and was the only Cortland player that was a positive in this game leading all scorers with 24. Oswego’s bench outscored the Red Dragons 47-18. and the Lakers dominated in the paint beating Cortland 48-10.
Coach Leone gets his 300th career win as a coach and the Lakers move to 21-2,(15-1 SUNYAC). The men’s team will travel to Brockport, NY to face Brockport on Friday, February 17 in a revenge game as Brockport was Oswego’s only previous SUNYAC loss.
IMAGE COURTESY OF ERIN BLANK, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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Oswego Men’s Hockey gets set for game against Geneseo
OSWEGO, NY — Men’s Hockey returns home after a successful trip to the North Country last weekend. The Laker’s wins over Potsdam and Plattsburgh secures the team in second place in the SUNYAC standings behind Geneseo, their competition Friday night. The Knights are currently ranked in third in the nation as the team holds a 15-3-2 record. Geneseo is coming off two wins in central New York as the team defeated Morrisville 6-0 and 8-3. However, Geneseo is only two points ahead of Oswego in the standings as the Lakers have played on less conference game than the Knights. This battle Friday is set to decide who will take the first seed heading into the playoffs. With Oswego not being ranked nationally, the Lakers only chance to make the NCAA tournament this season is through the conference’s automatic bid, in which the team must go through Geneseo to do so.
The last time these two teams met was back in November when the Lakers traveled to Geneseo for a Saturday night faceoff. However, the 1-9 loss was a major setback to the season as the team would go on a three game losing streak all against nationally ranked teams. But Oswego currently is on a three game win streak that has been on the back of new starting goalie Steven Kozikoski.
Friday Night’s game will be the first game of the second semester as students are back on campus. You can expect a packed Marano Campus Center as Oswego hasn’t beaten the Knights since the 2017-18 season. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. and coverage can be found on WTOP 10 and WNYO.
