OSWEGO, NY — On Thursday, the SUNYAC announced the All-Decade team for Men’s Basketball. Three Lakers would make the team along with Oswego Lakers Head Coach Jason Leone being named the SUNYAC Men’s Basketball Coach of the Decade. Leone has been with the Lakers for nine seasons and has coached the team to four SUNYAC championships. The coach has a 181-75 (.707) overall record and a 114-48 (.704) conference record while at the helm of the team. Oswego has been to five NCAA tournaments which includes two trips to the Sweet 16. Coach Leone’s accolades include four SUNY Coach of the Year awards (2012, 2015, 2017, 2019) and three Regional Coach of the Year awards.
The Lakers went 19-8 last season and fell to the Brockport Golden Eagles in the semifinals round of the SUNYAC championship. The team posted a 7-3 home record along with going undefeated in neutral contests. Senior Joe Sullivan led the team with 14.6 points per game in front of freshman standout Jeremiah Sparks. The Men’s Basketball team will return next season after the conference postponed the winter season.
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NYSPHSAA Releases Guidelines for Upcoming Season
OSWEGO, NY — On July 16th, The New York State Public High School Athletic Association announced changes to how high school athletics will work in the 2020-21 season. This statement comes as schools across New York State prepare for public schooling to reopen for the new school year. After the cancellation of the Spring 2020 season last year, there has been many questions revolving around high school athletics heading into this coming season.
The decision made by the Officers of the NYSPHSAA included a few changes along with guidelines on how schools/teams should prepare moving forward. The first being the start of the Fall sports season being moved to September 21st, which was supposed to begin on August 24th. The NYSPHSAA President, Paul Harrica, stated that this date would be unrealistic due to the current threats of COVID-19. Another major change is the cancellation of all Fall Regional and State Championship events. This is change was obviously made to decrease traveling between sports teams as teams from different sections around the state would travel to one central location to play the final games of the season. Minor adjustments and recommendations were also stated. For instance, the group has waived the seven-day practice rule, encouraged geographic scheduling for games, and schools have the option to offer off-season conditioning workouts.
These changes of course affect the Oswego Buccaneers teams, as many student-athletes were looking forward to the season beginning in the month of August. WTOP 10 will continue to bring coverage on this matter, as students will hopefully be returning to school by the beginning of September.
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Oswego State men’s basketball continues dominate run
OSWEGO N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s basketball walked into the weekend on a dominant stretch of games. A fifteen-game win streak that included seven wins by more than twenty points. A Friday night matchup against the Potsdam Bear and a Saturday afternoon bout against the Plattsburgh Cardinals became just two more games during one of the dominant stretches in program history.
Potsdam kept it close through the beginning of the first first half. The Lakers held a 9-8 lead after five minutes, and a 26-22 lead with eight and half to go. Then the Lakers found their stride. Oswego went on a 24-3 run to end the half lead by eight from Ahkee Anderson. The Lakers went to the locker rooms up 50-25. The second half was all Lakers. Oswego extended the lead to thirty-five with thirteen left to play on a Louis Fedullo layup. The bench finished the game from there, the final score 85-58. Devin Green led the Lakers with fifteen points and added 5 rebounds. Ahkee Anderson (14), Jeremiah Sparks (12), and Christian Simmons (11) all had over ten points. Brendon Mulson had six points and seven rebounds. It was also head coach Jason Leone’s 200th win as the Lakers coach.
Saturday’s matinee against the Plattsburgh Cardinals saw the Cardinals find the score board first with a layup, then quickly find themselves in a 13-2 deficit. The Lakers pushed the lead to twenty-four with six minutes left in the half, 34-10, with ten points from Jeremiah Sparks. Julien Crittendon hit two three later in the half, and the Lakers reached the fifty point mark before half time, and went to the locker rooms up 52-23. The Lakers would also have a fifty point second half, and for the third time this season would have over 100 points, winning 103-61. Julien Crittendon (18) led the Lakers in points, while Jeremiah Sparks (13) and Jamal Achille (11) were the only other Lakers with over ten points. Sixteen Lakers found the bottom of the net on the night.
Oswego now has twenty wins on the season with a perfect conference record of 14-0. They jumped up in last weeks national poll to #17. Their win streak now sits at seventeen games, the program record is nineteen straight games. The Lakers next game comes on the road in New Paltz versus against the Hawks next Friday February, 11th. WTOP 10 will have coverage of all homes games on Youtube or Twitch.
PICTURE COURTESY OF DIANA VITALE, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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Lakers Comeback Against Clarkson Falls Short
OSWEGO, NY- The women’s lacrosse team dropped their season opener to Clarkson 15-11 despite rallying at the end of the game.The first quarter started out the wrong way for the Lakers as they fell behind 2-0 as Clarkson controlled the first quarter. The second quarter was brutal as well for the Lakers as they gave up more goals to Clarkson. Clarkson’s Julia Lavarnway set up Madelynn Barnum to score to put Clarkson up 3-0 with 9:14 left in the second quarter. Lavarnway had a great second quarter assisting with two goals for the Golden Knights, Lavarnway would score later in the second quarter as she scored to put Clarkson up 6-0 with 3:58 left in the first half. The Lakers would finally get on the board as Katie Fierro would score with 40 seconds left in the first half as Shae McConnell would assist with the goal. Julia Lavarnway had a great first half as she assisted with three goals and scored as well. Clarkson’s goalie Jennaca McGill would record nine saves in the first half.
Madelynn Barnum started out the second half on an attack as he had back-to-back goals to put Clarkson up 8-1. The Lakers would then go on their own attack as Madison Davis put on a show scoring three straight goals to put the Lakers down 11-4. A penalty on Clarkson’s Kaitlyn McNamara set up Shae McConnell to score her first goal of the season but the Lakers still trailed 11-5. Mia Petrone would score her second goal of the day for Clarkson as they led 12-6 over Oswego at the end of the third quarter. Hailee Millington would score her fourth goal of the game as Clarkson led 13-6 early in the fourth quarter. Madelynn Barnum would also score her final and fourth goal of the game to put Clarkson up 14-7. Chrissy Benedict would score the final goal of the game for the Golden Knights as Clarkson led 15-7. Isabella Lembo, Julia Quirk, and Katie Fierro would give the Lakers life as they trailed 15-10. Madison Davis would score her fifth goal of the game as the Lakers trailed 15-11 but it was a little too late with 1:50 left in the game, the Lakers would lose their season opener. The last two matchups between Clarkson and Oswego were the season openers to the women’s lacrosse season and the Lakers would drop both games. Oswego’s last win against Clarkson came on March 1, 2019 where they won on the road against Clarkson 16-14 but they haven’t beat Clarkson at Laker Turf Stadium since the 2010-2011 women’s lacrosse season.
The Lakers travel to Suny Canton on Friday, March 3rd to take on the Kangaroos. The Lakers are undefeated against Canton as the Kangaroos look to break the long winning streak by the Lakers against them and the Lakers look to rebound and win their first game of the season.
PHOTO CREDITS PROVIDED BY OSWEGO STATE ATHLETICS
