OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse team is set to continue their 2021 season as they host the 2-3 Cortland Red Dragons on Friday, April 9th. This is only the second game for the Lakers as their previous games vs. Morrisville State and SUNY Oneonta were postponed last month.
Oswego is looking to recover from their 5-12 loss to the Brockport Golden Eagles on April 10th, and with SUNYAC games currently being played throughout their division, it’s more pivotal than ever for the Lakers to secure an early season victory. However, history is not on Oswego’s side. Oswego Men’s Lacrosse is 0-36 all-time vs. SUNY Cortland, with their last matchup being a 10-13 away loss in 2019. The Lakers will have to play better offensively than they did against Brockport in order to secure a victory. Five players scored in that game, including Dan Doolan and Weston Gray, who both added assists in the defeat. SUNY Cortland, currently on a two-game losing streak, will be lead by senior midfielder, Brandon Stiles, and sophomore attack, Luke Kilner, who are the leading scorers for the Red Dragons. Oswego goalie, Kevin O’Donnell, will have to be on has A-game in order to stop the high-powered Cortland offense. Faceoff is set for 7 PM at Laker Turf Stadium.
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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 Soccer losses to Nationally Ranked Oneonta in 2OT
OSWEGO — The Lakers took the nationally ranked Oneonta to double OT when Witman Hernandez, leading scorer in SUNYAC, put the Red Dragons on top. In the 2-1 loss, Laker Jack Van Pelt got the lone goal off a free kick from sophomore Caleb Munski. Throughout play, Oswego defense blocked multiple Oneonta shots along with goalie Brian Terra’s five saves. The Lakers look to split the weekend with a game against New Paltz today. The team will honor their graduating class as this will be the regular season game at Laker Stadium.
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Men’s basketball: SUNYAC championship recap and NCAA tournament preview
OSWEGO N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s basketball started their playoffs with a SUNYAC championship victory. They were the top seeded team in the tournament because they had the best regular season record in the conference. This saw them host both semi-final matchups and the finals. The first round of the tournament was on Tuesday, the winner’s of those two games would travel to Oswego to take on the Lakers, and the other team with a first round bye, Oneonta.
Excitement was building in the team after it was announced Tuesday night that Oswego would get their rematch with New Paltz, the team that had beat them just a few weeks prior to give them their only SUNYAC loss of the season. It was Jeremiah Sparks’ early seven points that helped the Lakers take an 8-2 lead. After the first ten minutes of play the Lakers still held the lead, 25-17, with Jamal Achille scoring six of his own to help out. The final ten minutes of the half saw the Lakers find their stride, a 23-5 run saw seniors Julien Crittendon, Brendon Mulson, and Christian Simmons combine for eighteen points, and the both teams headed to the locker rooms with the Lakers leading 48-22. The Lakers shot an incredible 66.7% in the first half. Oswego went on another run coming out of the half, and with just under fourteen to play, Oswego led 62-30. Eleven points from Kaleb Cook and seven from Sean Edwards in the final ten minutes helped the Lakers close the game out, and get revenge on the Hawks with a 94-60 victory. Five Lakers reached double digit scoring, Julien Crittendon (15), Jeremiah Sparks (13), Devin Green (12), Jamal Achille (11), and Kaleb Cook (11). Jeremiah Sparks had four steals in the game and Devin Green had three, with Oswego having a total of 15 in the game. With the win they moved on to take on the Oneonta Red Dragons who beat Brockport, 64-54, in the other Semi-final matchup.
Brendon Mulson was the Lakers fast starter in the Championship bout, scoring seven of Oswego’s first nine en route to a 9-0 lead. Half way through the first frame, Oswego was doubling Oneonta’s score 18-9. By the end of the first half Jeremiah Sparks and Julien Crittendon had combined for eighteen points, and the Lakers led 38-19. Oswego reached fifty points and a thirty point advantage on the same play, a Julien Crittendon layup with fourteen minutes to go. With eight minutes to go Oswego’s lead grew to thirty-five. Oneonta showed fight down the stretch making five threes before the end of the game, but the Lakers victory was all but assured and the game ended 81-60. Jeremiah Sparks (18) was Oswego’s scoring leader, with Devin Green (15), Jamal Achille (11) and Julien Crittendon (10) all reaching double digits. Achille and Green had nine and eight rebounds respectively. This championship victory was the Oswego’s fifth in ten seasons. After the game Jeremiah Sparks, Jamal Achille, Julien Crittendon, and Devin Green were all named to the all tournament team, with Sparks being named tournament MVP.
https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/basketball-men/d3/2022
After the win, the Lakers were guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Division 3 Tournament. The selection show was Monday afternoon, with the Laker’s waiting to hear their opponent and where they would be playing. It was determined by the selection committee that Oswego would be one of three teams traveling to hosts Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA just outside of Philadelphia. Oswego’s first round matchup will be against Hood College from Frederick, MD, with the winner of that matchup playing the winner of Swarthmore and Keene State from Keene, NH.
Hood College plays in the Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth. They came in second in their conference, beating the conference winner, Eastern University, 75-71 in the championship game. The Hood Blazers were 20-6 this season, going 14-2 in conference. Hood is led by senior brothers Mason and Evan Wang. Mason Wang led Hood with 22.4 points per game, while also contributing 5.0 rebounds per game, 3.5 assists per game, and 2.3 steals per game. Evan Wang is the second leading scorer at 14.1 points per game, also with 5.0 rebounds per game, and leading the team in assists at 3.8 per game. Christopher Smalls is their third highest scorer with 9.8 points per game. Hood averages 81.9 points per game, with teams averaging 74.1 against them. They shoot 44.5% from the field and 38.1% from three. The two sides have never played each other before.
The game against Hood College is Friday, March 4th. Tip off is set for 3:05 P.M. The winner’s of the two games will play Saturday at 5:35 in Swarthmore.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO ATHLETICS
BRACKET PROVIDED BY NCAA.COM
