OSWEGO, NY — Last week, Student Affairs and Enrollment Management announced that current Associate Athletic Director Eric Summers would be named Oswego’s Interim Director of Athletics. The Fayetteville, New York resident has been with the Lakers since June of 2014, and will take his new position immediately. Summers has been with a few other colligate programs before coming to Oswego. He was the head of the Hamilton College Crew Program for over a decade. Prior to Hamilton, Summers oversaw the men’s varsity crew program at Colgate University for two years. The team was ranked nationally for the first time during his stint with the team. This move comes after the retirement of Sue Viscomi, who retired at the end of May after seven years. The 24 team Athletic Department will now be led by Summers as the Lakers prepare for the 2020 Fall Season. WTOP 10 will continue to deliver coverage to Oswego State Athletics as teams prepare for their 2020 seasons.
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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
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Oswego men’s basketball extends win streak to 12 games in historic night
GENESEO, N.Y. – The Lakers mens basketball team is on fire right now and they kept it rolling on Tuesday night when they matched up with the Geneseo Knights on the road. The Lakers took the momentum early on in the first half of play and held onto it for most of the first half before a late rally from the Knights. The Knights went on a 8-2 run in the final three minutes of the first half to cut the Lakers lead to only one leaving Oswego with a 33-32 score at the half. Jeremiah Sparks caused problems for the Knights in the first half shooting over 65% from the field, while shooting 75% from the three point line. Sparks led the Lakers with 15 points in the first half and with his 15th point scored Sparks joined an exclusive club at Oswego becoming the 19th ever Laker to record 1,000 career points in a career.
After letting the Knights come back in the last minutes of the first half, The Lakers got off to another great start in the second. Oswego jumped out to a twelve point lead over the Knights in only four minutes into the second half now leading 46-34. The Laker defense really stepped up causing the Knights to miss shots. Sparks would not cool down from the first half and after his three, the Lakers would lead 53-36, with Sparks having 26 points with 13 minutes still remaining in the game. The Knights couldn’t do enough to crawl back into the game as the Lakers kept attacking on both sides of the court.
Oswego ended up dropping 100 points on the Knights for a final of 100-62 and extending their winning streak to 12 games. Sparks led the team with 26 points in his historic night while going 10 for 13 from the field. The Lakers had three other players record double-digit points this evening. Cartier Bowman finished with ten points, as well as Achille Anderson, and Joey Rowback finished with 19 points, including five three pointers from beyond the arc,
The Lakers improve to 16-2,10-1 SUNYAC and Geneseo falls to 7-10,3-6 SUNYAC. The Lakers will return home on Friday, January 27th at 7:30 for their first home game of the new semester to take on the Plattsburgh Cardinals for their annual Coaches vs. Cancer weekend.
IMAGE COURTESY OF OSWEGO ATHLETICS
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Men’s Lacrosse Secures Back-to-Back Road Victories This Week
UTICA, NY – The men were on the road this week, traveling to Utica and Brockport for their matchups. Oswego was able to get back in the win column following their loss against Hartwick last week. The Lakers first matchup was against the Pioneers in Utica on Wednesday, March 22nd.
The matchup with the Pioneers proved to be a chess match between the two teams, with no goal coming in until the end of the first quarter. Utica scored the first goal with three and a half minutes remaining in the quarter. Corey O’Connor tied the match at one with an assist from Jack Delany with a minute left in the first. The Lakers held the Pioneers scoreless in the second and third quarter, while building a lead that would be too much for the Pioneers to overcome. Oswego netted four goals in the two quarters, giving them a 5-1 lead over Utica.
The Pioneers didn’t go down without a fight, as they netted two fourth quarter goals. However, the Lakers put the Pioneers in their place with three fourth quarter goals of their own, winning the matchup by a score of 8-3. Aiden Kenyon held it down for the Lakers in the net, recording ten saves on the afternoon to help the Lakers secure the victory. Delany led the Lakers with three points, one goal and two assists. O’Connor, Max Brodman, and Trey Jones tied for the team lead in goals, each scoring twice.
On Saturday, the men headed out west to take on the Golden Eagles in a much closer matchup. Oswego got up early in the match, but surrendered two goals in the final two minutes of the first quarter and trailed by one going into the second quarter. Max Brodman gave the Lakers life in the second quarter, scoring two of Oswego’s three goals of the quarter, and recording a hat trick on the afternoon before halftime. The match would be tied at five going into the second half of play.
The Lakers outscored Brockport by just one goal in the second half, scoring four goals in the half. Aiden Kenyon held Brockport to three second half goals, and recorded five saves in the contest. Gavin Elston recorded a hat trick in the second half which gave Oswego the upper hand in their win. Elston tied Corey O’Connor for total points on the afternoon with four, while also tying Brodman for total goals with three each.
The men are riding a two game win streak heading into their next matchup, which will be their second conference matchup of the season. The men will be hosting Plattsburgh on Saturday, April 1st at 1pm. The Cardinals are coming in on a six game losing streak, with the Lakers looking to make it seven.
