OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Lakers had a big past weekend as they hosted the SUNYAC tournament on Friday and Saturday afternoon. The Lakers first started their tournament hosting the number five seeded New Paltz Hawks Friday afternoon for the SUNYAC Semifinal match. Early on Oswego struggled to connect on their shots and the game stayed tight as both teams went back and forth in the first seven minutes of play. The Hawks started gaining momentum around the 12 minute mark which forced Coach Leone to take a timeout trailing 12-15. Defense was the key of the first half, as both teams struggled to put the ball in the net. The Lakers forced five turnovers on defense, while holding the Hawks to just 35% from the field. Oswego dominated the glass with 10 offensive rebounds in one half. Despite the struggle from the field, the Lakers would take a two point lead going into halftime, leading 27-25. Cartier Bowman and Jeremiah Sparks both went into the half with 8 points.
After nothing was going for Oswego in the first half they were desperately looking for answers. That answer was Devin Green who hit three of his six three point attempts in the first eleven minutes of the half bringing the lead to 49-44. Jeremiah Sparks connected on two straight baskets extending the Lakers lead to nine with just five minutes remaining in the game. Green continued to put the team on his back and connected on his fifth three of the second half with just under 2 minutes to seal the game. The Lakers ended up holding on with a 73-68 win to move to the championship game. Four Lakers recorded double digit points that evening Sparks had 21,Green had 17, Bowman had 13 and Cook had 12. The Lakers advance to their second consecutive SUNYAC title game with a five point win over the Hawks and would face SUNY Brockport on Saturday evening for a chance at the SUNYAC championship.
The Lakers returned Saturday to the Max Ziel to try to win back to back games against the Brockport Golden Eagles. The first half went the way the Lakers wanted as the Lakers defense forced 12 turnovers against the Golden Eagles and the Lakers led 46-33 at half. Ahkee Anderson went 6-7 from the field, including a three pointer in his hot start with14 points in the first half.
The second half started out the same for both teams with Brockport starting to slowly creep back into the game. Brockport cut the lead to six with just over ten minutes remaining taking over the full momentum in the half. Both teams then continued to score back and forth, with Oswego maintaining the six point lead over the next eight minutes. With less than two minutes remaining, Ahkee Anderson continuing his big game hit a big jumper from the right baseline to give Oswego a 69-61 lead forcing Brockport to call timeout. After Brockport failed to score at the other end coming out of the timeout, the Lakers took advantage with a long offensive possession with an offensive rebound turning into a slick Jeremiah Sparks step back mid-range jumper to seal the SUNYAC. Oswego would continue their 21 game win streak with 74-63 win. Oswego wins their second straight SUNYAC Championship in a row marking Coach Leone’s sixth SUNYAC Championship in 11 years.
Three Lakers were honored in the trophy celebration and as a part of the SUNYAC Team: Devin Green, Jeremiah Sparks and Cartier Bowman who won the SUNYAC Tournament MVP with a 15-point 13-rebound double-double.
The Lakers are now 25-2(17-1) and will now host a NCAA pod on March 3rd and 4th. They will play Marymount (VA) in the round of 64 at 5:45. John Carroll and Albertus Magnus will be playing the Neutral game.
IMAGE COURTESY OF ERIN BLANK, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT