OSWEGO, NY — Men’s Hockey returns home after a successful trip to the North Country last weekend. The Laker’s wins over Potsdam and Plattsburgh secures the team in second place in the SUNYAC standings behind Geneseo, their competition Friday night. The Knights are currently ranked in third in the nation as the team holds a 15-3-2 record. Geneseo is coming off two wins in central New York as the team defeated Morrisville 6-0 and 8-3. However, Geneseo is only two points ahead of Oswego in the standings as the Lakers have played on less conference game than the Knights. This battle Friday is set to decide who will take the first seed heading into the playoffs. With Oswego not being ranked nationally, the Lakers only chance to make the NCAA tournament this season is through the conference’s automatic bid, in which the team must go through Geneseo to do so.
The last time these two teams met was back in November when the Lakers traveled to Geneseo for a Saturday night faceoff. However, the 1-9 loss was a major setback to the season as the team would go on a three game losing streak all against nationally ranked teams. But Oswego currently is on a three game win streak that has been on the back of new starting goalie Steven Kozikoski.
Friday Night’s game will be the first game of the second semester as students are back on campus. You can expect a packed Marano Campus Center as Oswego hasn’t beaten the Knights since the 2017-18 season. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. and coverage can be found on WTOP 10 and WNYO.
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Lakers men’s basketball wins SUNYAC tournament for 2nd straight year
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
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Mens basketball keeps it rolling after two home victories
OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Oswego men’s basketball team continues to win after two big home wins this past weekend at the Max Ziel. The Men’s team started their weekend hosting the New Paltz Hawks on friday night. The Lakers started off very slow on offense but then got it going after the Lakers were able to go on a 8-0 run to lead the Hawks by four points. The Lakers then didn’t stop and would continue to score with many fastbreak scores. This would bring the Lakers leading by 24 points going into halftime, with a score of 49-25. Oswego shot 52.8% from the field in the first half, while going almost 42% from behind the arc.The Lakers dominated on the glass, grabbing 27 rebounds to the Hawks’ 15. In the first half nine different players were able to convert on field goal attempts led by Devin Green with 13 points and five rebounds.
The Lakers then ultimately dominated the second half of play, shooting a phenomenal 53.3% from the field. Oswego extended their lead to 59 points in the second half of play and ended up winning by that margin with a 112 to 53 win. Oswego scored over 100 points for the second game in a row, with four of their last five games eclipsing the mark and tied their season high in points. Six different Lakers ended up scoring in double digit points that evening. Devin Green had 13, Cartier Bowman had 10, Jeremiah Sparks had 14, Ahkee Anderson had 10, and Sean Edwards ended up with 11. Oswego moved to19-2,13-1 in SUNYAC.
The Lakers came back on Saturday and had a total opposite game of Friday on Saturday against Oneonta. This game was a full out defensive battle as it was a struggle for both teams. The Lakers came out and shot 32.4% from the field in the first half and struggled to get anything going. Despite the Lakers shooting at a less efficient standard than usual, the Red Dragons shot the ball at an even less efficient half and Oswego led 30-21 up nine entering the second half. Jeremiah Sparks had nine points in the first half, and Devin Green had seven.
The first eight minutes of the second half was a continuation of the struggle for both teams as both teams kept trading baskets. Finally Jamal Achille hit a big shot to push the Oswego lead to double digits. Just before the halfway mark of the second half, Oneonta bounced back and hit a three to cut the deficit to nine. The teams continued to trade baskets and the Oneonta went on their own run cutting the lead to six with around five minutes left. Oswego came back with a few big shots over the next two minutes, getting back to a ten point lead, but Oneonta struck right back to cut the lead to four. Green then used his veteran IQ to draw a foul with 1:13 remaining. He sank one of two to make the lead five. Oneonta had their best shot with a fast break layup and Jeremiah Sparks came out of nowhere and had a huge block getting possession back for Oswego. Ahkee Anderson ended the game when he stole the ball away from an Oneonta defender to secure the 58-51 win. Sparks had 15 points in a big performance, Anderson had 12, and Green scored 10.
Oswego extends the streak to 16 and is 20-2,14-1 in the SUNYAC. The men will hostSUNY Cortland next comes to Oswego on Saturday, February 11.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO ATHLETICS
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Oswego Men’s LAX finish season 7-5
OSWEGO, NY- The Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse finished their 2023 lacrosse season as they played two games this week as they played Cortland and Potsdam on the road.The first game was an usual outing for the Lakers against Cortland but they would be lose 22-5. The Lakers would get off on the wrong foot in the first quarter as they trailed 7-0 with 4:36 left in the first quarter as Klay Stuver would score twice during that span for the Red Dragons. The Lakers would finally get their first goal of the game as Liam Sexton would score unassisted with 2:42 remaining in the first quarter. The Red Dragons would continue to find answers to the Lakers defense as Ryan Smith and Tyler Starrett would score for the Red Dragons to give Cortland a 9-1 lead at the end of quarter one. 33 seconds into the second quarter Klay Stuver would score his third goal of the game as Tyler Starrett assisted with the goal. The Lakers second goal would come 2:35 seconds later with Gavin Elston scoring his first goal of the game. Almost two minutes later Liam Sexton scored his second goal of the game as the Lakers trailed 10-3. Three minutes would go by without both teams scoring until Klay Stuver scored his fourth goal of the game to put the Red Dragons up 11-3. Connor Aspinal would score his first goal in four games to put the Lakers down 12-4 with 2:14 remaining in the first half. The rest of the second quarter would remain scoreless with the Red Dragons leading 12-4 at half. Cortland would dominate the face-off battle winning nine face-offs compared to Oswego’s five.
The second half would write the same story for the Lakers as the first. Three minutes and nine seconds would go by the in third quarter without a score from both teams until Caden Yancey scored for the Red Dragons to put them up 13-4. Two minutes and fifty two seconds later, Jason Dongelewic would score the final goal of the game for the Lakers to put them down 13-5. Klay Stuver’s brother Kole would score his first goal of the game to give the Red Dragons a 14-5 lead. The Red Dragons would lead 19-5 at the end of the third quarter. Tyler Starrett would score twice during that span with Caden Yancey, Ryan Smith, and Nick Stoecker scoring once as well during that 5-0 run during the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter would start with a 6:32 scoring drought for both teams until Joe DeLany scored his second goal of the season for the Red Dragons to put them up 20-5. Bradley Cunningham and Tristan Triolo would score the final two goals of the day for the Red Dragons as both of them would score their first goals of the season as well as their second career goals. The Red Dragons would win 22-5 as they had 13 different players scoring for them. This marks the second time the Lakers have lost 22-5 to Cortland in their program’s history. This also marks the tenth time the Lakers gave up 22+ to the Red Dragons with their worst loss against Cortland losing 29-5 back on New Years Day 1984.
The Lakers would rebound against Potsdam in their last game of the season winning 13-12. The Lakers got things started scoring 1:23 seconds into the game with Jack Delany scoring for the Lakers. It didn’t take the Lakers long to score again as two minutes later Liam Sexton would put one in the net for the Lakers to give them a 2-0 lead with 11:37 remaining in the first quarter. Both teams went scoreless for 7:44 seconds until Corey O’Connor would score a goal man-up after a Potsdam penalty. Sixteen seconds later Logan Prescott would score for the Lakers to make it 4-0. Potsdam would finally get on the board with 1:38 left in the first quarter as Peyton Smith would score for the Bears to make it 4-1 at the end of the first quarter. Potsdam would add a goal early in the second quarter as Drew Rose would score unassisted with just 2:46 into the second quarter. Oswego would go score for 5:16 seconds until Corey O’Connor added his second goal of the game with Jack Delany assisting the goal. Eighteen seconds later O’Connor would add goal number four of the day to put the Lakers up 6-2. Potsdam would score another goal to make it 6-3 with 2:30 remaining in the first half. Trey Jones would score with 57 seconds left in the half to give the Lakers a 7-3 lead at half.
The Bears would cut the Lakers lead to three with just 19 seconds into the second half as Tyler Gould would put one in the back of the net for Potsdam. Thirty seven seconds later, Jason Dongelewic would score for the Lakers to make it 8-4. Potsdam would rally off two straight goals to cut the Lakers lead to 8-6 with 9:42 left in the third quarter. Hayden Coney and Logan Prescott would add two more goals for the Lakers to increase their lead to 10-6 with 5:55 left in the third quarter. The Bears would cut the score to two with 1:46 left in the third quarter as Peyton Walsh would have his second goal of the game and Ryan Wassmer would score his first of the game. Peyton Walsh would score his third goal of the game just 1:23 seconds into the fourth quarter to cut the Lakers lead to just one. Gavin Elston would bring the Lakers lead back to two with 11:34 remaining in the fourth. Potsdam would score man-down as Bryce Tyler was called for a cross-check but it wouldn’t matter for the Bears as Noah Strader would score to bring the score to a one-point game. Liam Sexton would make the score 12-10 with 8:24 left in the game. Potsdam would quickly respond as Peyton Walsh scored goal number four of the day with 7:36 left. Jack Delany would score his second goal of the game and would seal the deal for the Lakers with 2:34 remaining in the game to make the final score 13-12 Oswego.
The Lakers finish 7-5 to end their 2023 season as they will face off once against Cortland in the first round of the SUNYAC Playoff Tournament on Wednesday, May 3rd at Cortland at 4:00. The Lakers clinch their first playoff berth since 2019 where that season ended losing to guess who, the Cortland Red Dragons 13-10. This game will be a rematch of last week’s game as Oswego looks to avoid going 0-41 against Cortland all-time in their program’s history and finally get over the hump and beat Cortland.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ERIN BLANK, WTOP-10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
