The Oswego women’s softball team will be hosting the Geneseo Knights this Saturday in a doubleheader. The Lakers enter the game on a two game losing streak but look to bounce back and get over the .500 mark in conference play. Geneseo is heading into this matchup with a 7 game win streak on the line including 3 shutouts during that stretch. The Lakers have not struggled putting runs on the board. In their last contest against Oneonta, they lost with 9 runners crossing the plate. Sophomore outfielder Rebecca Vilchez had two hits, two RBIs and one run scored in that game so she will be a big factor in the Lakers success. First pitch is set for 12 pm with the second game following immediately after.
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Men’s hockey remains perfect
Yesterday the Men’s hockey team traveled to Cortland to take on the Red Dragons in SUNYAC action. The Lakers would defeat the Red Dragons 4-1.
Each of the Lakers four goals were all scored by different players. Stephan Johnson would be the first Laker to score. He scored a power play goal to tie the Lakers with the Red Dragons with one minute left in the first period. At the halfway point of the second period, Kenny Neil, got his sixth goal of the year. With three and a half minutes left in the third, Chris Ragueso scored to put the Lakers up 3-1. Mitchell Herlihey would score with just under thirty seconds left in the game.
With the win, the Lakers improve to 5-0 on the year and are #1 in the SUNYAC with a 3-0 record. The Lakers will travel to Potsdam on Friday and to rival Plattsburgh on Saturday.
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Lakers men’s basketball cap off regular season on the road
FREDONIA, N.Y. – The Oswego state basketball team looked to end off their regular season with two wins on the road vs Brockport friday night and then the Fredonia Blue Devils on Saturday night. The Lakers were looking to avenge their previous loss to Brockport at home on December 2nd. Cartier Bowman was a catalyst for Oswego early with 9 points in 10 minutes of play. Oswego early played great team basketball and tried to get everyone involved early. The Lakers initially had a nice 15 point lead, but Brockport cut it down to 10 with about five minutes left in the first half. The Lakers gave up some quick points before the end of the first half, but still ended the half with a 44-36 lead.
The first 5 minutes of the second half stayed back and forth as Oswego maintained their 8 point lead. While Brockport began to make a small run at the Lakers, Devin Green and Ahkee Anderson both hit three pointers to extend the Laker lead back to double digits with the score 65-55 midway through the second half. Brockport fought right back and cut the lead to five with three minutes remaining. Anderson then took over for the Lakers and hit two big jump shots down the stretch to keep Oswego in front. Those shots helped Oswego pull away and finally get their revenge on Brockport 79-73. Devin Green led the Lakers with 18 points, Bowman had 17, Achille had 13, and Anderson had 11. The Lakers then moved to Saturday where they would face Fredonia on the road.
The first half started slow for the Lakers as the Blue Devils had a nine point lead halfway through the 1st half due to great play from Aaron Collins. In a very slow first half where we saw the Lakers shoot only 12% from three, it was the opposite for Fredonia as they shoot a astounding 8-9 from behind the arc. But the Lakers fought back at the end of the half to hold a 44-40 lead at the halftime break. Cartier Bowman and Jeremiah Sparks both had 10 points in the first half, and Kaleb Cook added nine more.
The Lakers then turned it around in the second half led by Jeremiah Sparks who did almost everything for the Lakers in the first 10 minutes leading the Lakers to a 65-57 lead with 10 to go. However, Fredonia’s three-point shooting continued to be a problem for Oswego. Sparks continued his dominant scoring the late stages of the second half with seven quick points including a three pointer with around seven minutes to go. Ahkee Anderson then hit a jumper to bring the lead to 12 and Kaleb Cook put the game away with four points down the stretch to grow the Lakers lead. Despite the accurate shooting of the Blue Devils, Oswego was better in almost all other facets of the game. Oswego shot over 50% from the field and really turned it around in the second half for a 85-70 victory. Sparks ended the game with a 26 point double-double with help from Cook, Anderson and Bowman who scored in double figures.
The Lakers move to 23-2(17-1) and bring their win streak to 19 headed into the SUNYAC tournament next weekend. With this win the Lakers officially locked up the number one seed for the playoffs and will get the home court advantage next weekend. The SUNYAC Tournament will begin on Tuesday, February 21. Oswego will have a first round bye and will host the final four of the conference tournament.
IMAGE COURTESY OF ERIN BLANK, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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A Look Ahead: Oswego State men’s basketball in the SUNYAC and the national rankings
OSWEGO N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s basketball team is in the midst of an all time great season. They currently sit a 16-1 and are on a thirteen game winning streak. They are first in the SUNYAC with a three game lead over SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Oneonta who both sit at 7-3 in the conference. Oneonta comes to Oswego on Friday and are on a five game win streak. New Paltz comes to town Saturday to take on the Lakers, they have back to back wins. Potsdam and Geneseo sit fourth and fifth in the standings, they are followed by Brockport, Cortland, Fredonia, Plattsburgh, and Buffalo State.
The Lakers have eight games left before the SUNYAC playoffs at the end of February. They play Oneonta and New Paltz twice in that span, with games against Potsdam, Plattsburgh, Brockport and Fredonia mixed in. Oswego currently boasts three double digit per game scorers in Senior Julien Crittendon (12.4), Junior Devin Green (11.6), and Sophomore Jeremiah Sparks (11.2). Senior Brendon Mulson has also been an effective scorer at 9.6 points per game, and the recent emergence of Senior Christian Simmons also sees him at 9.6 points per game. He also boasts doubles-doubles in his the last two games. Oswego is the best scoring team in the SUNYAC at 78.8 PPG. They are also the best defensive team in the SUNYAC at 59.8 points against per game, that is also sixth best in Division 3. The team has four players above five rebounds per game, Sparks (6.6), Simmons (6.3), Mulson (5.9), and Green (5.4). Oswego is currently the second best rebounding team in the SUNYAC at 42.9 per game.
The Lakers success was finally rewarded with a national ranking two weeks ago. The team had hovered just outside of the rankings for a few weeks before finally cracking the top 25 with number 25 last week, then jumping up to 22 this week (you can find the rankings here: https://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2021-22/week7). The resume includes the undefeated conference play, and a win against a then ranked Rensaellar Polytechnic Institute, their lone loss coming to a ranked Nazareth (25). With most likely four weeks left of rankings, the Lakers look to climb higher up. The teams around them include the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (21) and Wesleyan University (20) above, and Augsburg (23) and Emory University (24) below.
WTOP10 will have continuing coverage of the Oswego State men’s basketball team. Tune in for all home games on YouTube or Twitch.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY SHELBY PEPLOWSKI, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
SUNYAC STANDINGS PROVIDED BY SUNYAC WEBSITE
NATIONAL RANKINGS PROVIDED BY D3HOOPS.COM
